CHAPTER VII FROM BINDER, AND NILE TO NILE After hunting from sunrise to sunset, with only an hour of rest, it was by a great effort of will that I brought myself to face the five hours' journey by moonlight on the way to Roseires.

The journey had to be strictly planned, for the distance was about seventy miles ; water was already exceedingly scarce, and the places where any whatever could be obtained were but three in number.

So, tired as I was, those five weary hours in the darkness had to be patiently plodded through ; even the moon had nearly deserted us, and only the catlike eyes of the Arab in front could see any sign of the faintest of tracks. My route lay almost due west across the Blue Nile, through Roseires to Renk on the " White," a distance of nearly 200 miles through a nearly waterless country.

I had brought four goatskins {gii'bas) from Singa for use on these cross-country journeys, and uninviting they are to English ideas. Black, sweating, and gorged, they smelt of the tan, and a new 129 9