The More Distant Peaks Were Soft Gray-Blues And Purples,
Those Nearer, Indigo And Black.
We soon passed this lovely scene
and entered the walled-in channel, creeping up what seemed an
interminable hill
Of black water, then through some whirlpools and a
rocky channel to the sand and rock shore of our desired island Kondo
Kondo, along whose northern side tore in thunder the Alemba. We
made our canoe fast in a little cove among the rocks, and landed,
pretty stiff and tired and considerably damp. This island, when we
were on it, must have been about half a mile or so long, but during
the long wet season a good deal of it is covered, and only the
higher parts - great heaps of stone, among which grows a long
branched willow-like shrub - are above or nearly above water. The
Adooma from Kembe Island especially drew my attention to this shrub,
telling me his people who worked the rapids always regarded it with
an affectionate veneration; for he said it was the only thing that
helped a man when his canoe got thrown over in the dreaded Alemba,
for its long tough branches swimming in, or close to, the water are
veritable life lines, and his best chance; a chance which must have
failed some poor fellow, whose knife and leopard-skin belt we found
wedged in among the rocks on Kondo Kondo. The main part of the
island is sand, with slabs and tables of polished rock sticking up
through it; and in between the rocks grew in thousands most
beautiful lilies, their white flowers having a very strong scent of
vanilla and their bright light-green leaves looking very lovely on
the glistening pale sand among the black-gray rock.
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