The National tribune., 1900-04-12
~ IL <BApAct MlJi0l1AlY
| in AFRICA.


Soon the white hippopotamus was on
Sandbar. Dr. Cornet and Capt Bla saw
the situation and Were preparing to come
on board. We had steam up, and the
gangplank was being pulled IN; Wheh a
terrible melee enSued. 1t seemed by their
most earnest mode OF quarreling that the
whole lot would soon be in the water.
A FRIGHTENED LOT.
I had ordered the engines TO be put 10
work. then reverse, and as the RAINBOW of
the gallant Henry Reed was pulling out OF
the sandbar against which she had laid. as
a signal to any neighborinE steamer which
might be behind any OF The nearby islands.
gave the whistle two blasts. | eX-
pectcd also to see some fun, and was not
disappointed. ! never III all my. cXperi-
ence saw such a mass Of wrlthing and
falling and jumping and running hui
manity. One Young woman had her lolii-
| cloth, full OF >hippopotanuS meat ana
piece under the left arm, chunk IN nef
mouth, and was Just grabbing for another
piece when the whistle began to blow.
She was n very conspicuous figure III the
mass. ] could see plainly that her first
move was TO squat down, then she lost hef
Ioin-C 10th, as the waistblnd LrDkc and let
all the meat fall. AS she became more
terrified she cropped the meat she had
under her arms. raised up AMI looked to-
ward the Stean1vr. then dropped the chunk
which she had in her mouth and started
10 run. She fell 6rcr several others who
had no; yet hecn able 10 rise up, and such
a cry Of Nance, M;.lnoe," which is an
ejaculation OF great surprise. as came from
that scared. wriggling brown mess OF ami
mated humanity l. had rcvcr Befure heard.
BY this time we Were driving ahead and
sool rotn!cd u bead and left the bold
warriors. some behind bushes others under
water with only Their heads out, others
! Standiag and gazing II US as we steamed
out of s;g!it.
Eggs ana chickens had begun TO get
scarce We wanted some for the table.
Ne f;IA not run more than an hour or SO
wien we had to make Il sharp turn TO the
lift and ;sccnd u Short line of steep, swift
rapids. | knew that they We're ahead by
the chart so we kept wei 10 the right, and
| Just as we came into the down rapiCS
threw the helm 10 the left hard, and hav-
| ing good steam the gal ant Henry Reed
| went up without any trouble.
Shortly after getting in good water We
saw canoe crossing ahead of u.s. which
seemed 10 have barter goods in it. and the
fact that it was being padded by woman
made me sure that she was trader. j
called to her to come nearer and we would
| buy what she had. This frightened her,
and soon she ran het canoe III small
creek and hid in the deep grass. We did
rot stop, as | knew that there was nothing
to gain.
-
Steaming on fer some three days more
through Il fine, level country covered with
| forests. which was mostly copel, satin
wood and red teak, we finally came 10 a
| bend i'll the river to the right, where ! saw
some good, dry wood near and Il fiae sand
bar to snug up to. We chose tn s for the
nights lodging. rs | always wanted M
people TO have rs comfortable quarters as
possible, and this seemed frSt-ciaSS. i he
! boys went to the forest and ] began t.
search the sandharS for indications of
precious stones or any traces of metals or
anything that might prove interesting. To
| my great surprise | here found about a
| gallon of good Ignite. ! searched farther
up, but could find none upstream but did
| find little in small pieces below. j came
| to the conclusion that it must have come
out of 2 small creek which came from a
dense, swampy forest. l made further
search, which strengthened my belief, but
as the water was far above iow-water mark
could moi satisfy myself as to the exact
location Of the bed However, by careful
searching believe a gcod bed OF shallow
coal will yet be found. ---- -.-..-..--.-.
Two days later we reached the mouth OF
the long g-sought Sankuru River. Here the
S. A. B. people we've building trading
station. My call was short. and we steamed
some three hours UP the Sankuru and
camped for the night.
Next morning at about eight o'clock We
had arrived at quite town of huts on an
island.
Here got my first real idea of the diff