They Worked Their Way With Incredible Difficulty Through The Morass, Before They Were Able To Get Into The Body Of The Stream, And Being Now Fairly Off They Prepared Themselves For The Worst.

"Now," said Richard Lander, "my boys," as their canoe glided down with the stream, "let us all stick together; I hope that we have none amongst us, who will flinch, come what may."

They had proceeded some distance down the river, when seeing a convenient place for landing, the men being languid and weary with hunger and exhaustion, they halted on the right bank of the river, which they imagined was most suitable for their purpose. The angry and scowling appearance of the firmament forewarned them of a shower, or something worse, which induced them hastily to erect an awning of mats under a palm tree's shade. The spot for a hundred yards was cleared of grass, underwood, and vegetation of all kinds: and very shortly afterwards, as three of their men were straggling about in the bush, searching for firewood, a village suddenly opened before them; this did not excite their astonishment, and they entered one of the huts which was nearest them, to procure a little fire. However, it happened only to contain women, but these were terrified beyond measure at the sudden and abrupt entrance of strange-looking men, whose language they did not know, and whose business they could not understand, and they all ran out in a fright into the woods, to warn their male relatives of them, who were labouring at their usual occupations of husbandry.

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