THE 'AUBE' at fort ARCHINARD.

CHAPTER VII STAY AT SAY We soon came in sight, as we rounded a bend of the stream, of a thicket of trees on an island which seemed made on purpose for us.

We landed and pitched our tents. The most important characteristic of an island is that it should be completely surrounded with water. Well, our island fulfilled this condition, for the time being at least. On the left, looking down stream we could see the principal arm of the Niger, the deepest part of the river, in which, however, the rocks of the bed were already beginning to emerge, whilst on the right was a narrower channel barred at the end by a rapid, beyond which the water disappeared entirely underground. Yet further away in the same direction we could see a little branch of the broken-up river with a very strong current hastening on its way to join the main stream, where I could not tell.

295