Four
hippopotami hunters were harnessed as tug steamers, while a
change of swimmers waited to relieve them every alternate voyage.
The raft answered admirably, and would easily support about three
hundred pounds. The power of flotation of the sponging bath alone
I had proved would support a hundred and ninety pounds, thus the
only danger in crossing was the chance of a crocodile making a
dash either at the inflated skins in mistake for the body of a
man, or at the swimmers themselves. All the usual necessaries
were safely transported, with the tents and personal baggage,
before I crossed myself, with a number of Arabs. We quickly
cleared the grass from the hard pebbly soil of a beautiful
plateau on the summit of a craggy sandstone cliff, about eighty
feet above the river; here we pitched the tents, close to some
mimosas of dense foliage, and all being in order, I went down to
the river to receive the next arrival. My wife now came across
the ferry, and so perfectly had this means of transport
succeeded, that by the evening, the whole of our stores and
baggage had been delivered without the slightest damage, with the
exception of a very heavy load of corn, that had caused the
sponging bath to ship a sea during a strong squall of wind.
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