80 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

Bedden is an island, and on each side of it are rapids, but after they are passed the river is navigable for steamers as far as Khartoum ; regular traffic would remove the smaller obstructions which occasionally, owing to the floating vegetation, impede the passage of large boats.

There is at Bedden an iron rope ferry, which was made by Gordon Pasha when he formed the station ; it would be hopeless, owing to the turbulence of the river, to attempt to get a boat across without its help. The whole island is surrounded by lovely scenery, and one could well wish to remain longer in such a pretty spot ; but only staying an hour, and taking another boat, we arrived at Kegiaf in four hours. The wind was dead against us, so that we took double the usual time to make the journey.

Hundreds of hippopotami sport in the river, and both here and at Eegiaf are very troublesome, as they make great havoc among the fields. When the boat passed they rose, opened their huge jaws, and after taking a quiet look at us dived into the river. The calm, noiseless way in which these huge creatures move about is astonishing ; they enter the water as quietly as a duck ; but it fares badly with a boat should an old bull catch sight of her, for he generally charges her, and often much damage is done by them. Usually they are not so pugnacious, and I have seen the natives, as they tow a boat up the river, frighten them off by shouting ; but an