AN ABORTIVE START ii

Moreover, the machinery might get out of order. Of course, rowing is slower than steaming, but it is much safer. Then, too, we had the current in our favour ; we had but to let

ourselves go and we should certainly arrive at some goal,

if not at a good port. The stream would carry our barges down, with us on or under them, as Spartan mothers would have said.

Besides, there was something graceful about this mode of progression. To row down the Niger at the end of the nineteenth century, was not only amusing, but there was

really something audacious about it, when it might have been done so differently, and, after all, I was right ; for never could gunboats have passed where my plucky little boat, the Davoust, made her way.

This resolution come to, the next thing was to build the boat which was to be the inseparable companion of our

journey. " As you make your bed you must lie upon it,"

I thought, and I gave my whole mind to the matter.

She must be strong^ but light, and easily taken to pieces ; she must not exceed the minimum space needed to hold us

all ; she must be capable of carrying eight to ten tons, and she must not be difficult to steer.

During the year 1893, it happened that great progress had been made in the working of aluminium, and Monteil

had actually ventured to employ that metal in the construc-

tion of a little boat intended for use on the Ubangi.

It seemed, however, rather hazardous to follow his example, for, after all, what could be done with aluminium had not

been actually put to the test, and our very lives depended almost entirely on the durability of our boat. Still, I had to take into account the fact that the craft would sometimes

have to be carried overland, and then the lightness of the metal would be immensely in its favour.

In a word, I decided for aluminium. Truth to tell,