"
Through the help of the men of the "Gorgon," the sections of the "Lady
Nyassa" were speedily put on board the "Pioneer," and on the 10th
February the vessel steamed off for the mouth of the Ruo, to meet the
Bishop. But its progress through the river was miserable. Says
Dr. Stewart:
"For ten days we were chiefly occupied in sailing or hauling
the ship through sand-banks. The steamer was drawing between
five and six feet of water, and though there were long
reaches in the river with depth sufficient for a ship of
larger draught, yet every now and then we found ourselves in
shoal water of about three feet. No sooner was the boat got
off one bank by might and main, and steady hauling on capstan
and anchor laid out ahead, almost never astern, and we got a
few miles of fair steering, than again we heard that sound,
abhorred by all of us--a slight bump of the bow, and rush of
sand along the ship's side, and we were again fast for a few
hours, or a day or two, as the case might be.
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