My first idea had been to follow the banks of the Crocodile River, which is what I should have attempted had I not chanced on the woman, Jeel.

Lucky was it that I did not do so, since I found afterwards that this river wound about a great deal and was joined by impassable tributaries.

Also it was bordered by forests.

Jeel's track, on the contrary, followed an old slave road that, bad as it was, avoided the swampy places of the surrounding country, and those native tribes which the experience of generations of the traders in this iniquitous traffic showed to be most dangerous.
Nine days of fearful struggle had gone by.

We had camped one night below the crest of a long slope strewn with great rocks, many of which we were obliged to roll out of the path by main force in order to make a way for the wagons.