12

we found that three parts of it had been eaten by

the lions whose roaring had kept us awake. So we

returned to our companions, who were filled with amazement when we had informed them of all

that we had seen, and of the perilous adventures we had undergone.

Then we ceased not on our journey until we

arrived at Khartoum which we reached on the 15th

of October 1858, with about iJ^E. loooasmy share of

the profits earned from my commerce. With this I

bought a boat and much merchandise, and collected

a large following, as is the way with merchants.

These I armed with rifles and we embarked with

our goods for Meshra el Rek. But fate decreed that

we should not reach our destination save after toil

and tribulation, for, in our absence, a great bar of the

"mother of wool" (f) had formed across the waters

of the river, so that our strength availed not to

remove it. The days came and went while we

t By the banks of the Bahr el Ghazal and the Bahr el Aralj grow papyrus and a reed known to the Arabs under the name of Um Suf. Mother of wool. These plants become detached by the high

winds that blow during the season of the rains and are driven alonj^

the narrow and meandering channels until their progress is barred by a bend in the river. Their roots then strike down into the muddy bottom and speedily taken a firm hold so that the whole

channel may be blocked for many miles by these plants and other

floating masses of a like nature. It is no uncommon experience for

boats to be detained by these great barriers. In fact, in the year

1880, Gessi's steamer was blocked by this sudd, as it is called, and no less than 450 of his men were starved to death before he was

himself rescued. For a fuller description of the Sudd, See Gleichen, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1.300.