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Show 8 MR. J. S. BUDGETT ON [Jan. 20, natives make very good traps of papyrus-grass, and also hunt the hippopotamus with long spears with a rope and float of ambatch-wood attached. Amongst other fishes caught here were Mor-myrops, Mormyrus, Hyperopisus, and Malapterurus. Much of this way the hills retreat, and there is nothing seen but grass floating and grass stationary, not even bird-life to relieve the monotony. The last 20 miles, however, before reaching the garrison town of Nimule it is very different. The Nile flows straight towards the mountains above Nimule, and here widens into beautiful lagoons covered with water-lilies, in the foreground sheets of Pistia of the most vivid green, in the background bold wooded hills. Here and there are rocky islands with schools of hippopotami basking in the sun; Bee-eaters (Melittophagus pusillus), the Jacana (Parra africana), and the gorgeous little Kingfishers (Corythornis cyanostygma) abound. And then the Nile plunges into the great Nimule gorge, to tumble down cataract after cataract, breaking up and pulverizing the floating vegetation, and issuing again at Fort Berkley free from sud. I was now getting anxious about catching the Sudan Government steamer, which comes up once a month to Gondokoro, and determined to leave the Nile and go straight overland for Gondokoro. The actual distance was little over 100 miles, but at this time of year the difficulties of travelling and crossing over rivers in flood were such that one could not tell at all how long the journey would take. After passing through the Nimule gorge, we came to the affluence of the Assua with the Nile. The Assua was now in flood, the only way of crossing being by means of small rafts of ambatch-wood equal to taking one load at a time. None of my porters were able to swim, and all had likewise to be crossed on the rafts. After very nearly losing two men down the rapids, the crossing was completed after eleven hours' hard work. Here, again, the bird-life was different. I saw many birds while on the march that I was unable to identify. There were great numbers of a Weaver-bird of brownish colour with a white crown, building innumerable star-like nests made of straight wiry grasses woven in at a tangent to the nest. There were also seen in these parts, for the first time, &Icoptelus notatus and Crypto-rhina afra, though amongst these were not seen specimens with red beaks as was the case on the Gambia. Just below its confluence with the Assua River the Nile flows on two sides of a high hill; a fact which strikes one as remarkable, for the two branches were mountain-torrents of very little depth of water. There we left the river, and passed through country with many villages and a good deal of cultivation, especially ground-nuts and millet. The aspect of this country of the Madis struck me as remarkably similar to that of the Gambia : the soil was rich and sandy, and the nuts produced were of great size. In some of the valleys we saw quantities of very fine bamboo, while many of the trees were almost smothered by the beautiful creeping lily Gloriosa superba. |