Sheets, and walls, and rubbish heaps of rock, mixed up with
trees fallen and standing.
One appalling corner I shall not forget,
for I had to jump at a rock wall, and hang on to it in a manner more
befitting an insect than an insect-hunter, and then scramble up it
into a close-set forest, heavily burdened with boulders of all
sizes. I wonder whether the rocks or the trees were there first?
there is evidence both ways, for in one place you will see a rock on
the top of a tree, the tree creeping out from underneath it, and in
another place you will see a tree on the top of a rock, clasping it
with a network of roots and getting its nourishment, goodness knows
how, for these are by no means tender, digestible sandstones, but
uncommon hard gneiss and quartz which has no idea of breaking up
into friable small stuff, and which only takes on a high polish when
it is vigorously sanded and canvassed by the Ogowe. While I was
engaged in climbing across these promontories, the crew would be
busy shouting and hauling the canoe round the point by means of the
strong chain provided for such emergencies fixed on to the bow.
When this was done, in we got again and paddled away until we met
our next affliction.
M'bo had advised that we should spend our first night at the same
village that M. Allegret did: but when we reached it, a large
village on the north bank, we seemed to have a lot of daylight still
in hand, and thought it would be better to stay at one a little
higher up, so as to make a shorter day's work for to-morrow, when we
wanted to reach Kondo Kondo; so we went against the bank just to ask
about the situation and character of the up-river villages.
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