Methods of Cutting Through. 211 the work is in fact done by the stream itself, by carrying off the fragments as they get detached by the men at work on board the steamer. But were the steamer to force its way with the current into the tangle, the detached pieces could not drift away, and the ship would run the risk of being caught, as in the pack-ice of the Arctic regions, by the fragments closing in from behind. In November, 1878, Emin Bey was thus arrested with his steamer on the journey down to Khartum, and being unable to overcome the obstacle, had to return to Lado. To the same circumstance was due the already described disaster thaL befel Gessi and his people in the Bahr el Ghazal two years later.

" The usual plan is for the steamer to select a suitable point of attack, and go full speed into the elastic sudd, if possible through some opening between the shore and the barrier, where the elastic parts are generally more easily detached. Some of the crew help with long-forked poles, guiding all released masses sternwards, while others co-operate on the barrier itself just in front of the prow, pressing it down below the surface and thus facilitating the progress of the steamer. They work breast-deep, steadily moving forward or clambering up to get the higher parts under-water. During these operations the progress of the vessel is scarcely perceptible, although the paddles are continually kept going. " But should all efforts fail, recourse is had to another process which, though tedions, aims at clearing the water-Tray to the utmost. As before, the steamer drives at full speed into the yielding tangle, in which, however, it soon gets hemmed in. Then all dead inflammable matter, such as dry papyrus stalks, is fired ; and when consumed, two diverging cables are made fast to the floating mass at a distance of 30 to 50 yards from the prow. The ropes are secured by being wound round long stakes, which are driven right through the thick mass at an oblique angle to prevent them from yielding when the steamer begins to back off. After one or two efforts this manoeuvre generally detaches a large floating island, which either at once drifts away down- stream, or else is taken in tow by another steamer, and sent adrift at any point where the current is strong enough to carry it down.

"Should even this method fail, then the whole mass ia