172 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

our donkeys and set off, quite a crowd having assembled to take leave of the Pasha. Genaue Bey was to ride with us for several days, so our cavalcade amounted to a goodly number. The grass had been burnt along the road, and this produced quite an autumnal effect, the ground being thickly covered with dry and withered leaves, and the branches of the leafless trees standing out sharply and clearly against the sky.

We rode quickly for three hours along a good road to Drarr ; in fact, the road is so good, that a carriage might be driven along it. This may be said of most of the roads in the Bahr-el-Ghazel Province, as well as Darfour and Kordofan, and with very little alteration they could be made available for oxen-waggons. About two hours from Djour Ghattas we came to Khor Nikam, which flows into the Molmul, and which used to divide the Bongo from the Djour tribe ; but the slave-dealers have caused so much confusion, that now it is almost impossible to distinguish the boundaries of the difl'erent tribes. The ride in the cool evening air was most pleasant ; our path was lighted by the moon, and in many places by the ruddy light of a forest fire. We slept at Drarr, and early next morning crossed Khor Paguan, which flows into the Molmul ; at this season of the year it is a wide, knee-deep swamp, with a sluggish current.

Seven hours' march brought us to the river Djour ;