358 BEDEN TO KAKUAK.

9. From BEDEN, ON THE WHITE NILE, THROUGH FAJELU TO KAKUAK.

A WASTED COUNTRY—FAJELU—-GUMBIRI—KAKUAK AND ITS MOUNTAINS— THE WATERSHED OF THE YEI—GANDA—TRIBAL DIVISIONS OF THE MADI —AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS.

WE left the station of Bedén on the 9th of October, and climbed the hills which border the western banks of the river. A broad rolling steppe lay before us, the few existing trees being almost hidden amongst the yellow grass of the undulating fields. Blocks of rock and gneiss and quartz rubble were scattered in all directions, especially near the innumerable rainchannels which furrowed the country, and which at this season of the year were almost empty. Numerous euphorbia hedges, always used for the Bari cattle zertbas, were also to be seen, proving that this district was once well peopled. Smallpox and famine, caused by failure of the crops and continuous raids which swept off the enormous cattle herds, have changed this country from a garden to a desert. It is evident that this steppe might be used for agricultural purposes, as well as for pasturage, to judge by the luxuriant growth of durrah, dokhn, hibiscus, and tobacco which surrounded the few Bari homesteads we saw on ourway. After passing a gneiss hill, Zindiru, the trees became rather more numerous. Steppe-woods formed of figs, tamarinds, butter-trees, acacias, Balanites, Zizyphus, and the very common Diospyros mespiliformis intermingled with the sea of grass. A species of Boswellia forms a distinctive feature of this region; its foliage, as seen from a distance, has a reddish hue. It provides a quantity of sweet-smelling gum, which the Arabs use as incense, and its stems are much valued for hedges, as it 1s very tenacious and soon takes root and blooms afresh.

The village of Mogedo, where we camped for the night, is a rather large collection of huts, differing in no way from the usual Bari villages. Chief Rombe promised to provide us with porters early next morning, but whether due to the Bari’s intense dislike of the duties of porters, or to the fact of this