In the early part of the afternoon we got to
the village of Ebiasu, which means 'not dark.' Here the equinoctial
showers began to fall heavily, and I was again obliged to sleep without
observations. The village is built upon a steep bank of yellow clay, with
rich red oxides; it stands forty feet above the present level, and yet at
times it is flooded out.
Leaving Ebiasu next morning, I found the banks of sand, clay, and small
pebbles beginning to shelve. We passed over slaty rocks in the bed; and
the depth of water was often not more than three feet. Women's washings
were seen on the left bank, and the river had risen after they had been
worked. We could not approach them on account of the reefs and the
current. The opposite bank, about five minutes further up, is of soft
sandstone; and here a native tunnel of forty to fifty feet had been run in
from the river to communicate with a shaft. My men were nervous about
leopards, and I had to encourage them by firing my rifle into the hole.
The normal formation continued, and here the land is evidently built by
the river; there are few hills, and the present direction of the bed has
been determined by the rocks and reefs, the outliers of the old true
coast.
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