Nautical
stratagems, incomprehensible forms of knots, rigging, &e., &e., I left
all the details of the canoes to his charge. In a short time we
possessed three admirable vessels that it was quite impossible to upset.
I now required a few rafts for the transport of baggage, as it would be
awkward to cross the river by small sections should an enemy oppose our
landing on the precipitous bank on the opposite shore. I therefore
arranged that we should cross in two journeys. The party now consisted
of 97 soldiers including officers, 5 natives, 3 sailors, 51 women, boys,
and servants, and 3 Europeans; total, 158 persons.
There was no ambatch wood, but I thought we might form rafts by cutting
and then drying in the sun the long tough stems of the papyrus rush.
These, if lashed together in small bundles, could be shaped into rafts
similar to those used by the Shillook tribe.
Lieutenant Baker took the three sailors and a few intelligent soldiers,
and set to work.
The 29th June had arrived without any news of Rionga. The country
appeared to be quite devoid of inhabitants on the south banks, neither
did the natives show themselves on the north. We were masters of the
situation, but there was an uncomfortable feeling of loneliness in our
position of outcasts.
