Page:A pilgrimage to my motherland.djvu/35

26 the first time between Oyo and Isehin, next between Biocu and Beracudu, and finally between the last place and Abbeokuta, distant respectively five days, two days, and two hours' journey from Abbeokuta, the day's journey being from twenty-five to thirty miles. At these places I found the bed of the river covered to such an extent with masses of granite rock, that it could be easily crossed dryshod by stepping from stone to stone, although fully twenty-five yards wide. I found also the water wider and deeper than it is from Abbeokuta to ten miles below. The reason of this perhaps is that the irregular rocky surface of its bed above Abbeokuta retards the progress of the water, and for the same reason it is not absorbed as it is below Abbeokuta, where the bed is sandy. We found all through the country brooks and rivulets apparently dry in some places, while at other points lower down the course, the water was gushing out clear and sweet. It is possible too to procure water by making slight excavations in the apparently dry sandy beds of what had been in the rainy season impassable rivers.

On the 4th September we arrived at Aro, where we found horses awaiting us, for the Crowthers had sent before to order them. Aro is the landing-place for the city of Abbeokuta in the rainy season; Agbamiya, a point lower down the river, being used in the dry season.