It is a habit with native porters to hitch a load in a forked branch of a tree, or, with the help of the six-foot walking stick which all of them carry, to balance it on some excrescence. By this means they are saved the trouble of lifting the load from the ground when they wish to resume their journey. All the way to Lukungu — the half-way station to Stanley Pool — we found this horrible state of affairs. Several times we had difficulty in obtaining water, as a dead body was lying in the stream or spring which we had been making for as a good camping neighbourhood.

We saw no one to tell us what was the matter, or to warn us of the then dangerous state of the district. Arriving at Lukungu, we found that, owing to an epidemic, said to be dysentery, practically all