CHAPTER III

THE  LOWER WATERWAYS

I HAVE already referred to the so-called Sherbro River
as an arm of the sea set with many small islands, into
which flow several rivers from the interior.

Opposite the south end of the Sherbro Island is a strip
of land known as Turner's Peninsula, one side of which
fronts the Atlantic and the other forms the left bank of a
long and fine waterway, that, although fed by several
rivers that run down from the watersheds of the main¬
land, has a course for about a hundred miles parallel with
the sea. The strip of land varies in width from five miles
at its broadest to less than half a mile. This narrowest
part is at Koronko, about halfway along the peninsula,
where the water is always quite fresh; so that the fresh
water and the salt sea are here only separated by half a
mile.

This waterway is known by two names. It is called
the Bum-Kittam up to its confluence with the Big Bum,
which comes down from the interior and meets it.
Beyond this point it is the Lower Kittam, because the
Upper Kittam, which flows through the Krim country
parallel with the Big Bum, meets it in the same way.