The delays in procuring boatmen were most annoying: it
appeared that the king had sent orders that each village was to supply
the necessary rowers; thus we were paddled from place to place, at each
of which the men were changed, and no amount of payment would induce
them to continue with us to the end of our voyage.
Landing at Eppigoya, we were at once met by the headman, and I proposed
that he should sell us a few kids, as the idea of a mutton chop was most
appetizing. Far from supplying us with this luxury, the natives
immediately drove their flocks away, and after receiving a large present
of beads, the headman brought us a present of a sick lamb almost at the
point of natural death, and merely skin and bone. Fortunately there were
fowls in thousands, as the natives did not use them for food; these we
purchased for one blue bead (monjoor) each, which in current value was
equal to 250 fowls for a shilling. Eggs were brought in baskets
containing several hundreds, but they were all poultry.
At Eppigoya the best salt was produced, and we purchased a good
supply - also some dried fish; thus provisioned, we procured boatmen, and
again started on our voyage.
