MacLennan. The natives made the usual difficulties; the
craft (which was quite sound) could not float, and amongst other things
she had no paddles: for this, however, I had provided by making my men cut
them last evening. Almost immediately after leaving this head of
navigation, barred above by a reef and a fall, we saw that eternal
mangrove. Presently the Aunabe creek broke the line of the right bank. Our
course was as usual exceedingly tortuous, turning to every quadrant of the
compass; and, during the last fortnight, the water-level had risen four
feet. The formation of the trough is that of the Ancobra, and the bed
bristles with rocks. In a distance of seven miles and a half by course
there were four small breaks, and one serious rapid about a hundred yards
long, where the decline exceeded five feet. Here the men had to get
overboard and to ease the canoe down the swirling waters, which dashed
heavily on the rocks. The snags were even thicker than on the upper
Ancobra, and were far more dangerous than on the St. John's. In places the
mangrove fallen from the banks had taken root in the river-bed. In fact,
unless some exertion be soon made, even the present insufficient channel
will be blocked up.
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