some five days' march, one sees neither grey hairs, nor halt, nor blind. Even parents are eaten by their children on the first sign of approaching decrepitude. It is easy to understand that, under the circumstances, the Batetela have the appearance of a splendid race. These cannibals do not, as a rule, file their front teeth, nor do they tattoo the face. I explored the Lomami for some six or eight hours above N'Gandu.

The river is about two hundred yards wide, rapid in many places, and rocky, and navigation even in a canoe is very difficult. Northwards, eastwards, and southwards of N'Gandu extends a vast palm forest, containing great patches of India rubber creepers. N'Gandu itself, as I first saw it, was situated on an open plain, one side of which was separated from the left bank of the Lomami by a strip of swamp and