The river is heavily in flood for this is the end of the wet season and the current is very strong indeed.  Soon we come to the first rapid and one of the men drops his pole overboard at the critical moment.  The other two, however, hold the canoe up by pressing against the rocks while the water whirls past within an inch of the edge of the little craft.  At a word from the capita one of the paddlers jumps into the rushing water, rescues the pole and lands safely with it on the bank, fifty or sixty yards below.  All the Sangos swim like salmon but cannot of course leap up rapids.  They however, swim so powerfully that they steer clear of the rocks and reach the side even in the swiftest current.  On we go slowly struggling up rapid after rapid and when it is impossible to paddle and pole the canoes against the stream the crew stand on the rocks and lift them up.  Sometimes the drop is three feet at one spot and it is perfectly marvellous how these men can thus stand waist deep in the water.  Naturally we ship a good deal of water which wets everything through and through but the crew take this as a matter of course and bale it out at intervals while the boys take care the firearms are not injured.  The amount of actual work the crew do must be enormous yet they never seem fatigued and sing as lustily at the end as at the beginning of the day.  At length we pass the island of Mutemu and seek for a place for a camp.  There is not much choice for the forest is very dense here and it is necessary in every place to clear the undergrowth before the tents can be pitched.  Then fires are lighted and all are soon asleep.

We start again at daybreak and at once commence the fight with the rapids.  Soon after a Chief appears in a canoe, and having explained that he is at war with a neighbouring tribe hopes it will not inconvenience the white man.  On being asked why he is fighting he states that he has lost two women and thinks they have been stolen.  I then told him war was a mistake and I hoped he would make peace as soon as possible, at which he looked a little surprised and answered that he expected to be successful and capture several women as well as men.

The navigation of the Uele at this part of its course is so difficult that there are very few villages on its banks for the native who lives near a stream hardly ever walks and he will not settle unless he can travel by canoe.  For this reason there is often no pathway at all between villages only a mile or two apart on the river bank.  The few people there are have probably never seen a white man for as far as one can ascertain no one has been up here for ten years.  However, where there is a village the Chief comes on board and presents a chicken.  About midday the kitchen canoe paddles by with fire alight and pot boiling.  Soon after Chikaia shouts:  Le cuisinier est tombe dans l’eau, and a little way ahead is seen a canoe apparently upside down close to the bank and twelve or fifteen black heads bobbing