292 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

made by the bells and jingling metal is not unpleasant when heard from a distance; at rest they stand leaning on the spear with one leg drawn up. After the warriors had finished their dance, the women performed ; they were all clothed and danced in Arab fashion, so there is nothing more to say about them ; the dance is a jump, the women falling down on their heels, which sent all the prominent muscles of the body into a quiver. It is by no means elegant, and is accompanied by clapping of hands and shrill cries. The entertainment lasted for about two hours, coffee and sherbet being handed round at intervals ; and when we said good-bye we gave them ten dollars as a sign of our appreciation of their efforts for our amusement.

The journey from Fashoda to Lado, the chief town of the Equatorial Provinces, usually occupies twelve or thirteen days, but we were fifty-six days in accomplishing the voyage ; we were so much hindered by the large number of " tawfs " or grass islands which were floating down the Nile, and which eventually completely blocked it, that all our wood was exhausted, and for forty days we were held prisoners in the pestilential marshes of this part of the Nile. In another part of this book I give some account of the cause of these obstructions, which are such a serious impediment to the opening up of the river for traffic. Here I will mention some of our