canoes in readiness to ferry his forces over, as in a few days he intended to cross the river in their neighbourhood. We also heard that a big chief named Dibui, though unwilling to fight, had been compelled by Sefu to join his forces. The same afternoon a niece of Goi's, a chieftainess from up the river, brought me news that Mahomedi and Dibui were trying to cross the river opposite to her village, but that she had driven back the first canoes.

On hearing this. Lieutenant Scherlink and I decided to march at night. To anyone who has not experienced a night-march through an unknown part of tropical Africa, it is almost impossible to explain the difficulties that this entails. The ordinary ten-inch-wide trail through swamp and forest, which, without warning, leads the traveller up and down ant-hills or rocks, down ravines,