ENTER THE BELI COUNTRY. 345 corn-fields, in which were situated the curious pile-dwellings — of the Dinka. Balearic cranes were very numerous here, as also the bulbul (Pycnonotus niloticus), whose flute-like song I always like to hear. ‘The corn was still ripening; the process occupies eight full months. The dokhn, however, was just being reaped. Numerous baskets for fowls lay about everywhere, for now all over the Dinka country the breeding of fowls flourishes, as the people can always find a ready market for them at the stations. The Dinka consider it so objectionable to eat fowls or eges, that whoever did so would go courting in vain. Alél Kuimba (the Kuimba’s smelting furnace) is situated at the edge of the swamp, and is a much-frequented campingplace. Many fish belonging to the genus Clarias were found . in the swamp.

A good hour’s march led us through corn-fields wet with dew to the boundary of the Dinka district, the last village of which, Jombi, belongs to the Ayell district of Gok, and was passed not far from Kuimba’s. We left here the grey sticky loam of the lowlands and entered upon the red ferruginous clay which covers the Beli district of the Mittu tribe. The uninhabited borderland, Loba, consists of a wide grass steppe, and is frequented as a common hunting-ground. I noticed here a great ironstone ledge, which formed a kind of step in the midst of a plain; at its foot several Amomums were growing, the only ones which I have seen in this district. A large pool of water called Debber was covered with geese, which provided us with welcome food, as for many days we had passed through a devastated country where meat was unobtainable. From this point the soil was rather drier ; it presented a perfect sea of grass. We passed by a deserted iron-smelting place, where we saw the remains of its neatly constructed furnaces. We next reached Khor Lila, in the district of Mer. This swampy khor is completely shut in by vegetation; it contains water throughout the whole year, and is said to be identical with Khor Gulmar, upon which we camped when travelling from Rumbek to Jot. From midnight there had been thunder and lightning, but fortunately the rain kept off until the early morning, when all our goods were packed for the march. We then resumed our journey, marching almost parallel to the