'Three white men, they told me, had visited their village--Captain Dudley
in 1876, judging from the age of a child who was born at the time of his
visit; Captain Grant and Mr. Gillett, in 1878, I afterwards learnt, were
the other two. None of them went further into the interior.
'After breakfast we crossed the lagoon, passing on our way several canoes
fishing in the middle. The water was very clear and blue, and of
considerable depth, judging from a stone dropped in. Unfortunately I had
no other means of sounding. Not until a dozen yards from the shore were
any signs of a stream discernible. Pushing aside some reeds, we entered a
narrow lane of water, varying from three feet to eighteen feet in width,
deep, and, according to the natives, navigable for three days by canoes.
This stream is known by the name of Bousaha, and the lagoon by Ebumesu.
After two hours' hard paddling in a northerly direction we stopped to walk
to the village of Niba, a large place, principally engaged in raising food
for the coast fishing-villages and Bein, and also in elephant-hunting.
'Elephants at the time of my visit were reported in large numbers two
days' journey in the bush, and the villagers were then organising a party
for a hunt.
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