The _Dantec_ passed through with us without difficulty, and it was now the turn of the _Aube_. Digui attempted a manœuvre with her of positively extraordinary audacity. Knowing all too well that the rock which had been nearly fatal to us could not possibly be evaded, he simply flung the boat upon the grass-covered bank, and she climbed up, driven on by the great speed of the current. Then he let her slide down again backwards, or, to use the strictly nautical term, to fall astern. For all this, however, we every one of us had to pay toll in one way or another at this infernal Labezenga. The _Aube_ grated on the point of a hidden rock just as she was about to join us again in quiet water. It was now two o’clock in the afternoon, and we had been eight hours getting over a little more than half a mile in a straight line. We were famished with hunger, and our craving for food became almost unbearable. I constituted myself cook, and drawing upon our reserves of tinned meats and preserved vegetables, which we all felt we were justified in doing under the circumstances, I seized what came first, and tumbled everything helter-skelter into a saucepan. We all devoured the result, which I called _tripes à la Labezenga_, without in the least knowing what we were eating. I will give the recipe to all who wish to emulate Vatel: _tripes à la mode de Caen_, truffles, esculent boletus, _haricots verts_, with plenty of pepper and spice, served hot. In N. Lat. 14° 57′ 30″, after just escaping from drowning or from death in the jaws of a crocodile, nothing could be more delicious, but somehow I have never ventured to try my _olla podrida_ again in France. After a little rest, which was indeed well earned, Baudry went with Digui to the village of Labezenga to try and get guides. He came back in a state of terror at what he had seen. For more than a month we had to lead a life such as I have just described. What I have said will give an idea of all we went through. I don’t want to dwell too much on our sufferings now that they are over. Once embarked on such an enterprise as this there is nothing for it but to go straight ahead, and by degrees one gets accustomed to the danger to a certain extent. I swear, however, that not all the gold in the world would induce me to do again what we did on this trip under similar conditions. Ten times a day at least we had to face these awful rapids, to go through all the agony of suspense, succeeded by the awful sensation of passing over the obstacles before us, whilst the boat seemed to rush from beneath us and plunge into the foam, from which it seemed simply impossible that she should ever again emerge.