see if we could lead the camels along in the water. Near the point
where the river first makes a little bend to the north, we landed and
found three formidable gullies, and jungle so thick with bush,
date-palms, twining bamboo, and hooked thorns, that one could scarcely
get along. Further inland it was sticky mud, thickly planted over with
mangrove roots and gullies in whose soft banks one sank over the
ankles. No camels could have moved, and men with extreme difficulty
might struggle through; but we never could have made an available
road. We came to a she-hippopotamus lying in a ditch, which did not
cover her; Mr. Fane fired into her head, and she was so upset that she
nearly fell backward in plunging up the opposite bank: her calf was
killed, and was like sucking-pig, though in appearance as large as a
full-grown sow.

We now saw that the dhow had a good breeze, and she came up along the
right bank and grounded at least a mile from the spot where the
mangroves ceased. The hills, about two hundred feet high, begin about
two or three miles above that, and they looked invitingly green and
cool. My companion and I went from the dhow inland, to see if the
mangroves gave way, to a more walkable country, but the swamp covered
over thickly with mangroves only became worse the farther we receded
from the river. The whole is flooded at high tides, and had we landed
all the men we should have been laid up with fever ere we could have
attained the higher land, which on the right bank bounds the line of
vision, and the first part of which lies so near. I thought I had
better land on the sand belt on the left of Rovuma Bay, and then
explore and get information from the natives, none of whom had as yet
come near us, so I ordered the dhow to come down to the spot next day,
and went on board the _Penguin_. Lieutenant Garforth was excessively
kind, and though this is his best time for cruising in the North, he