The king of beasts, as usual, would not stand to show fight
in the open, but bounded off in the direction of the rocky hills.
It will be necessary to give a few extracts from my journal to convey an
exact idea of the Bahr Giraffe. The river was very deep, averaging about
nineteen feet, and it flowed in a winding course, through a perfectly
flat country of prairie, diversified with forest all of which, although
now dry, had the appearance of being flooded during the rainy season: -
"February 23. - Steamed from 6 A.M. till 7 P.M. Vast treeless marshes in
wet season - now teeming with waterfowl: say fifty miles accomplished
to-day through the ever-winding river. The wood from the last forest is
inferior, and we have only sufficient fuel for five hours left upon the
steamer. The diahbeeah in tow carries about twenty hours' fuel: thus,
should we not arrive at some forest in twenty-five hours, we shall be
helpless.
"The river was exceedingly narrow about fifteen miles from our starting
point this morning. The stream was strong but deep, flowing through the
usual tangled grass, but divided into numerous small channels and
backwaters that render the navigation difficult.
"In this spot the river is quite bank-full, and the scattered native
villages in the distance are in swamps. The innumerable high white
ant-hills are the only dry spots.
"February 24. - Started at 6 A.M. Everybody eaten up by mosquitoes. At 9
A.M. the steamer smashed her starboard paddle: the whole day occupied in
repairing. Saw a bull elephant in the marshes at a distance. Horrible
treeless swamps swarming with mosquitoes.
"February 25. - Started at 7 A.M. At 10 A.M. arrived at a very narrow and
shallow portion of this chaotic river completely choked by drift
vegetation. All hands worked hard to clear a passage through this
obstruction until 2.30, when we passed ahead. At 4 P.M. we arrived at a
similar obstacle; the water very shallow; and to-morrow we shall have to
cut a passage through the high grass, beneath which there is deeper
water. I ordered fifty swords to be sharpened for the work. We counted
seventy elephants in the distance, but there is no possibility of
reaching them through the immense area, of floating vegetation.
"February 26. - Hard at work with forty men cutting a canal about 150
yards long through the dense mass of compressed vegetation.
"February 27. - Working hard at canal. The fleet has not arrived; thus we
are short-handed.
"February 28. - The canal progresses, the men having worked well. It is a
curious collection of trash that seriously impedes navigation.
