Blocks. 213 were not watertight ; so that in a storm the driest place was sitting in the paddle-box, but I usually preferred the soaking deck to the smells and mosquitoes which congregated there. About sunset a cold dense fog arose from the river and hung like a pall over the steamer. Even night brought no alleviation to our misery : owing to the frequent storms we were obliged to sleep under cover, and the damp, hot atmosphere below turned the cabins into a vapour bath. Sleep was impossible ; the hours passed in a semi-stupor, broken by frightful dreams and horrid nightmare, so that morning found us unrefreshed, and each day less able to contemplate with stoical indifference the outcome of our imprisonment. More than half the crew were down with fever, and the way in which the poor sailors had to work while trying to extricate the steamer was piteous in the extreme. In order to get wood they were obliged to drag the boat through the floating vegetation for nearly 3 miles, and then work up to their waists in water to reach the little wood procurable. One load of wood was their daily task, and 10 hours' work was required to obtain it ; however, they never grumbled, but when unloading the boat at night might even be heard singing as they passed the wood up to the steamer." (September, 1878.) Emin Pasha in November, 1878, steaming down the river from Lado, came across three blocks, the first two of which he successfully circumvented by lateral channels. The third stopped him completely, and he heard of a fourth, which would effectually have blocked any boat.

As it is likely that blocks will occur in the same places in bad years, the positions are given j— First block, 9 miles north of Shambe (lateral channel, right bank) .

. Second block, 8 miles north of Hellet Nuer (lateral channel, left bank).

Third block, 30 miles south of Lake ~No. Fourth block, 8 miles east of Lake No.