M.
Tumento was found by observation to lie in N. lat. 4? 12' 20" and in W.
long. (Gr.) 2? 12' 25". Consequently it is only eighteen direct
geographical miles from the sea, the mouth of the Ancobra being in W. lat.
2? 54'. Some make the distance thirty and others sixty miles. The latter
figure would apply only by doubling the windings of the bed.
This ascent of the river convinced me more than ever that Enframadie is
the proper terminus of its navigation. I passed the next day at Tumento,
which proved to be only half the distance usually supposed along the
Ancobra bed from its mouth. The time was spent mainly in resting and
doctoring myself. At night the rats, holding high carnival, kept me awake
till 3 A.M.; and I heard shots being continually fired from a native mine
whose position was unknown. The natives now know how to bore and blast;
consequently thefts of powder, drills, and fuses become every day more
common. My first visit (March 20) was to the Insimankao concession. I left
the surf-boat behind, and put my luggage into small canoes hired at
Tumento, myself proceeding in the large canoe. We shoved off from the
beach at 8.50 A.M. The Ancobra had now, after the late rains, a fair
current instead of being almost dead water; otherwise it maintained the
same appearance.
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