bare, and the swamps and streams of the interior are all dried up.

On the Lualaba, however, when the river is low, during a long day's canoeing one rarely sees even a duck or a goose, and never a wader. Hippopotami, for a hundred miles or so above and below Kasongo, are scarce and very vicious, constantly attacking unprovoked either canoes or people who approach them. The natives are so afraid of the hippos here that it is a matter of difficulty to get a crew to approach a herd; the most extravagant promises of unlimited meat having no effect, even with men who have already been present at a successful hunt. It was while on the road from Kasongo to Nyangwe, on my way to visit de Wouters — which I was in the habit of doing as often as possible — that I shot the largest hippo 1 have ever seen.