for
Banana and was transshipped here only to lighten the _Leopoldville_ so
that she could pass a certain bar higher up the river. The cargo
consisted of coal in the shape of brickets, cement, rice, oil, cloth,
clothes, beads, salt and general provisions. As soon as sufficient had
been removed, the two lighters were attached one to each side of the
ship and we started up the main stream, which here runs between the
south or Portuguese bank and a series of islands. All these are covered
with dense forest the only living things visible being great black
eagles with white wings. On the left bank of the river we pass Malela, a
station for collecting bamboos, and soon after Kissange on the opposite
side where palm oil is made and shipped. A little higher up, the country
opens out and a range of hills becomes visible in the distance, the
plain between being covered with coarse grass six or seven feet high,
relieved at intervals by solitary palm trees. This is all Portuguese
territory, the Congo State here possessing only a narrow strip of land
along the northern bank. The course of the river here is very sinuous,
winding in and out among the hills, the curves being cut more sharply
each day as the water eats into the sand and carries it to be digested
in the great stomach of the Atlantic.

In this district both the State and the Portuguese have started large
farms for breeding European cattle which thrive here satisfactorily.
Higher up a solitary rock overhangs the left bank. This is known as
Fetish Rock from the legend that the natives used to throw live people
from it into the river as sacrifices. This is possibly true but there is
little evidence to show that the natives of the Congo ever sacrificed
either living or dead to propitiate anyone or anything.

Near here we anchor for the night and are welcomed by a host of most
noisy and vicious mosquitoes who have a particular partiality to good
healthy European-fed blood. Again we are delayed to unload and this time
into a small steamer the _Lagoon_--for the ship is still too deep in the
water to cross the bar. This sandy obstruction has an unpleasant habit
of shifting its position and it is necessary therefore to make careful
soundings every voyage at this time of the year when the water is low.
These are carried out by Captain Sparrow and Mr. Wright the chief Congo
pilot with the aid of a most ingenious sounding machine. It consists of
a simple pulley wheel raised on a stan