But, when prepared to embark on board the _Loanda_, which was a week late, my health again gave way, and I found that convalescence would be a long affair. Madeira occurred to me as the most restful of places, and there I determined to await my companion. The A.S.S. _Winnebah_ (Captain Hooper) anchored at Axim on March 28; the opportunity was not to be lost, and on the same evening we steamed north, regaining health and strength with every breath. The A.S.S. _Winnebah_ could not be characterised as 'comfortable.' Mr. Purser Denny did his best to make her an exception to the Starvation rule, but even he could not work miracles. She is built for a riverboat, and her main cabin is close to the forecastle. She was crowded with Kruboys, and all her passengers were 'doubled up.' A full regiment of parrots was on board, whose daily deaths averaged twenty to thirty. The birds being worth ten shillings each, our engines were driven as they probably had never been driven before, and the clacking of the safety-valve never ceased. The weather, however, was superb. We caught the north-east Trade a little north of Cape Palmas, and kept it till near Grand Canary. On April 13, greatly improved by the pleasant voyage and by complete repose, I rejoiced once more in landing at the fair isle Madeira. And now _Cameronus loquitur_. CHAPTER XXII. TO INSIMANKAO AND THE BUTABUE RAPIDS. Leaving Axim on March 16, I slept at Kumprasi and remarked a great change in the bar of the Ancobra River. During the dry season it had been remarkably good, but now it began to change for the worse; and soon it will become impassable for three or four days at a time. My surf-boat, when coming across it, shipped three seas. On my return down the river (April 15) the whole sand-bank to the west of the mouth had been washed away, forming dangerous shoals; the sea was furiously breaking and 'burning,' as the old Dutch say, and the waves which entered the river were so high that canoes were broken and boats were seriously damaged. I stored my goods in the surf-boat, and set out in our big canoe early next morning. A string of dug-outs was next passed, loaded with palm-kernels, maize, and bananas; it appeared as if they were all bound for the market at Axim. I took specimens of swish and stone from 'Ross's Hill.' The top soil showed good signs of gold, and the grains were tolerably coarse. Here a floating power-engine would soon bare the reefs and warp up the swamp. Messieurs Allan and Plisson, who were floating down in a surf-boat, gave me the news that the steam-launch _Effuenta_ had at last succumbed in the struggle for life.