The scene when I showed off the powers of the phonograph was interesting, for while the attendants of the chief could not conceal their surprise, he himself maintained his dignity, and his set features expressed nothing but stupidity. He offered us a sheep, because he said, “Now that we have been well amused, we must eat well.” Trying to turn his good humour to account, I reverted to the question I had at heart—the passage of the rapids. It appeared that my question on the subject had not been understood the evening before, at least so I was now given to understand. I repeated my request, taking care this time to make my meaning perfectly clear. I wanted Bussa canoes to take everything we had on board down below the rapids to the village of Auru, as they do the merchandise of the village. We ourselves could then pass down quite easily in our lightened crafts with the guides I also asked for. I got a promise at last that all my wishes should be met. [Illustration: CANOES AT BUSSA.] On the 5th, however, there were still no canoes, but at four o’clock the chief sent for me and told me that the whole thing was arranged and settled. In fact, I heard him give the orders to two negroes, who were, I was told, the chief canoe men. We agreed that I should pay two hundred thousand cowries. Thinking that everything was really settled this time, I gave the chief my own fowling-piece and a little pocket revolver. [Illustration: WOMEN OF BUSSA.] During the day more big canoes, from about twenty-seven to thirty-three feet long, came alongside of our boats loaded with rice and the native produce called _karité_. The English at Seba I was told give two bags of salt for one of rice, and the _karité_ which comes from Rupia fetches a good price in the factories. I must note here, _en passant_, how little we French know how to make the most of what we have in our colonies. This _karité_, for instance, which is a greasy substance extracted from the fruit of the _Bassia parkii_, is to be obtained in immense quantities in the French Sudan. It has been analyzed, and there has been a great deal of talk about it in periodical literature, but not a pound of it has been exported. [Illustration: WOMEN OF BUSSA.] I had mentally fixed the 7th as the date for our departure from Bussa, at whatever cost. We had now been there three days, and the English must have heard of our arrival. How would they behave towards us? I know that the Royal Niger Company is not particularly scrupulous as to the means it employs, and of this there are plenty of well-known instances: such as the torture of Mizon by Flint at Akassa, after being wounded in a fight with the Patanis, who were perhaps incited against him; or in the case of the foundering of the _Ardent_, when her crew, deprived of fresh provisions, died off, the Company showing not a scrap of compassion for them, or at least not sending them any help. [Illustration: TRUMPETERS OF BUSSA.]