32 Bohr el Ghazal.

" Next day, after getting through some smaller masses, we were arrested for several hoars by a huge barrier of a felt-like consistency, and nearly the third of a mile in extent. In the course of another hour's steaming through open water we reached the confluence of the Maiyeh bita el Deleb, as I was assured by the pilot ; he also informed me that this watercourse is joined by a stream from the south, presumably the Jau, which rises far to the south in Abakaland.

" The Maiyeh is fringed by strips of woodland, and the prospect is also relieved by euphorbias, which occur here somewhat frequently. The papyrus also grew more profusely, and in the shallower parts of the stream along the river-banks this reed was associated with a young growth of ambach (Herminiera elaphroxylon) . The wooded banks of the Maiyeh are occupied by the Nuers, whose huts were visible from the steamer.

" The last great barrier, some 2,000 yards long, was soon followed by another fully as large. We anchored before it for the night.

"The sudd at which we were now arrested was of a peculiarly tough consistency, and, being about a mile and a quarter long, it took nearly a whole day of combined efforts to force it. The barrier occupied a bend in the river, leaving only a narrow channel in the centre free of herbage. " On the 26th February, after passing another sudd nearly 500 yards long, I took soundings, and found the Bahr el Ghazal at this point ranging in depth from 20 to 30 feet. A little higher up the fluvial scenery assumed a different aspect. The river gradually grew wider, while the banks stood out more distinctly, being both higher and better wooded than lower down. Some native dwellings also came into view, and at one point the north side was fringed with a regular forest of ambach, a plant which had already been passed some days previously. Here, for the first time, the observer is able to form some idea of the actual size and volume of the river, which in some places was nearly 350 yards wide between its wooded banks.

" At the Ghaba bita '1 Arab, on the north side, the main stream is joined by the Bahr el Arab ; owing to the slight incline, the confluent waters here expand into a