THE RETURN JOURNEY TO THE COAST

On the 11th of April Mr. Mohun took command of the expedition, and returned down the river, hoping to get me back to Kasongo alive, where there was some chance of finding the necessary medicines and light food. The very first night (when landing on a strip of sand under a high cliff” covered with bush) the natives attacked us, under the impression that we were afraid to proceed, and were not really so strong as they had first thought us when going up the river.

I was too weak to sit up, and lay helpless while the skirmish raged around; everyone was engaged, and I could get no information as to what was happening even on the sandbank, on the edge of which my canoe was drawn up. It ended in the natives being driven oft', leaving some