Shortly before reaching the Ahenia River we saw the
landing-place for the valuable 'Apatim concession.' They told me on
enquiry that the stream is deep and has been followed up in a surf-boat
for a mile or two. It may therefore prove of use to Mr. Irvine's property,
Apatim.
At half-past five that evening I reached Akankon, and slept well at
'Riverside House.' Mr. Morris had begun levelling the ground and building
new quarters for general use. I gave him some slips of bamboo and roots of
Bahama-grass, as that planted had grown so well.
Next morning we got under way early (6.50) and proceeded up the river. The
canoe-men, seeing pots of palm-wine on the banks, insisted upon landing to
slake their eternal thirst. The mode in which the liquor is sold shows a
trustfulness on the part of the seller which may result from firm belief
in his 'fetish.' Any passer-by can drink wine _a discretion_, and is
expected to put the price in a calabash standing hard by. Beyond the
Yengeni River I saw for the first and only time purple clay-slate
overlying quartz. Collecting here and there specimens of geology, and
suffering much from the sun, for I still was slightly feverish, I reached
the 'great central depot' at 4 P.
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