low, flat shores, in the dhow; towing
the rowboat and the store boat behind them. The crews of these
boats lived on board the dhow until their services were required,
helping in its navigation and aiding the crew when the wind dropped
and sweeps were got out.

The villages along the banks were for the most part small, but were
very numerous. At each of these the dhow brought up. There was, in
almost all cases, sufficient water to allow of her being moored
alongside the banks and, as soon as she did so, the natives came on
board to make their purchases and dispose of their produce. In
addition to the European and Indian goods carried, the dhow was
laden with rice, for which there was a considerable demand at most
of the villages.

As soon as he had learned the price of the various goods, and their
equivalent in the products of the country, Stanley did much of the
bartering; while his uncle went ashore and talked with the head men
of the village, with all of whom he made a point of keeping on good
terms, and so securing a great portion of the trade that might,
otherwise, have been carried by native craft.

Three times during the six months the dhow had gone back to
Calcutta, to fetch fresh supplies of goods and to take in another
cargo of rice; while the trader proceeded higher up the river, in
his own boats. While on the voyage, Stanley always had the rifle
and fowling piece that his uncle had handed over, for his special
use, leaning against the bulwark, close at hand; and frequently
shot waterfowl, which were so abundant that he was able to keep not
only their own table supplied, but to furnish the crew and boatmen
with a considerable quantity of food. They had had no trouble with
river pirates, for these had suffered so heavily, in previous
attacks upon the dhow, that they shunned any repetition of their
loss. At the same time every precaution was taken for, owing to the
intestine troubles in Cachar and Assam, fugitives belonging to the
party that happened, for the time, to be worsted, were driven to
take refuge in the jungles near the rivers; and to subsist largely
on plunder, the local authorities being too feeble to root them
out. The boats, therefore, were always anchored in the middle of
the stream at night and two men were kept on watch.

To the south as well as in the north, the trading operations were
more restricted; for the Burmese became more and more aggressive.
Elephant hunters, in the hills that fo