342 GOK TERRITORY TO RIVERS ROA AND YALO.

a well would have taken up too much of our time, we continued our march without making a halt.

At this spot the Mellan district, mhabited by the Beli division of the Mittu, is wedged in between the territories of the Dinka. On Junker’s map the Mittu are called Beli and Balma. SBalma, however, or rather Balima, means “ my friend ” in the Beli language, and the Danagla, when they first came to this country, heard this word so frequently that they applied it to the whole tribe. Just in the same way the Bari became known as Gillio or Yulio, which also means “‘ my friend.”

Strange to say, we encountered numerous coveys of rockfowls (Ptilopachys) in the steppe-woods of the Beli country, although these birds ordinarily inhabit only stony regions. The boundary between the Beli and the Gok, a Dinka tribe, is formed by a small Anogeissus wood, beyond which we entered Fedwin, a district of the Gok.

The khor in front of us floods its banks to a distance of three-quarters of an hour’s march on either side. I noticed that many loam walls had been erected for catching fish.

Khor Gulmar, where we camped for the night after an exceedingly hot march, has also a very broad swampy bed; the stream flows slowly to the north, and contains excellent cold water. In the rainy season this khor is sometimes very difficult to ford, and it sends a large quantity of water into the sandy flats of the Nuér district, in which it is said to lose itself. Hven in the driest season large basins containing clear, good water are always to be found. Fannegai adjoins the district of Fedwin; it has a rather moist soil, and a correspondingly luxuriant vegetation. Acacias, strange to say, are totally wanting in this district, but dolébs are very common.

The districts of the Gok are smaller even than those of the Agar; we therefore arrived at an early hour at the station of Jot, the chief village of the district of the same name, which is generally, however, called Zeriba Mukhtar, after the commander of the station. It forms the frontier post towards the Bahrel-Ghazal district. The Gok have the same tribal mark as the Atwot, viz., several scars radiating from the glabella, and their language, customs, and arms are exactly like those of their Dinka brothers. They are celebrated as the best and bravest