FROM BUSSA TO THE SEA 479 On the 14th, judging by the rate at which we went, the current must have been yet stronger. We made some fifty miles, passed the night near Igga, and arrived there at eight o'clock in the morning on the 1 5th.

The country between Geba and Igga is uninteresting ; no villages, or scarcely any, were passed, and there was no cultivation. The appearance of the banks is much what it is between Say and Bussa ; a few karitds occur here and there, that is all. We met a canoe now and then only. The oilpalms, which had begun to appear beyond Say, now became more numerous, but the country still appeared deserted.

In a large plain near Igga there is a factory kept by a white man. Just before we reached it we saw a big boat called the Nigritian, which was formerly the pontoon of Yola. The Royal Niger Company had just been driven from the Benue and from the Adamawa ; its trading agents had been recalled, together with the pontoon they had been authorized to use on the river. This must have been a very severe blow to the Company, for much of the ivory exported through their agents came from Adamawa and Muri.

The Ribago a pretty little craft of from six to seven hundred tons, is moored at Igga. She is the best boat belonging to the Company. She brings down palm-oil in the nut before it is extracted, karites and other articles for export. The oil is of a very fine quality indeed. It will probably be the Ribago which will tow us down-stream if all is satisfactorily settled with the Company about Bussa and Auru.

The agent at Igga thought we should find Mr. Wallace at Lokodja. I was very anxious to see him, for it is with him I must get the misunderstanding, if misunderstanding there were, explained. His word alone would suffice to exonerate the Company from blame, and only if he could