our assailants bolted into the bushes and long grass the instant after
firing, save two, one of whom was about to discharge a musket and the
other an arrow, when arrested by the fire of the second boat. Not one of
them showed their faces again, till we were a thousand yards away. A few
shots were then fired over their heads, to give them an idea of the range
of our rifles, and they all fled into the woods. Those on the sandbank
rushed off too, with the utmost speed; but as they had not shot at us, we
did not molest them, and they went off safely with their cloth. They
probably expected to kill one of our number, and in the confusion rob the
boats. It is only where the people are slavers that the natives of this
part of Africa are bloodthirsty.

These people have a bad name in the country in front, even among their
own tribe. A slave-trading Arab we met above, thinking we were then on
our way down the river, advised us not to land at the villages, but to
stay in the boats, as the inhabitants were treacherous, and attacked at
once, without any warning or provocation. Our experience of their
conduct fully confirmed the truth of what he said. There was no trade on
the river where they lived, but beyond that part there was a brisk canoe-
trade in rice and salt; those further in the interior cultivating rice,
and sending it down the river to be exchanged for salt, which is
extracted from the earth in certain places on the banks. Our assailants
hardly anticipated resistance, and told a neighbouring chief that, if
they had known who we were, they would not have attacked English, who can
"bite hard." They offered no molestations on our way down, though we
were an hour in passing their village. Our canoe-men plucked up courage
on finding that we had come off unhurt. One of them, named Chiku,
acknowledging that he had been terribly frightened, said. "His fear was
not the kind which makes a man jump overboard and run away; but that
which brings the heart up to the mouth, and renders the man powerless,