153 CHAPTER VII.

SOUTH-WESTERN SUDAN.

THE BAHR EL GHAZAL.

1. Introductofy.

The Bahr El Ghazal was re-occupied by the troops of the Sudan Government during the winter of 1900-1901. I"tro-Before their advent the most recent detailed descriptions of the country (not counting the necessarily superficial '"*'°*"ywritings of the Marchand Expedition in 1898) date from pre-Dervish days {e.g.. Junker, Schweinfurth, etc.). Although there has not been time or opportunity for the whole of the country to be subjected to a searching examination since 1901, still, sufficient is known to prove that great changes have taken place in the province since 1881. Roads and places have disappeared, the face of the country has in many parts completely changed, and tribes have disappeared, have been thinned out, or have emigrated to other territories.

Thus it will be found that in many particulars the detail given in the following pages will not at all bear out the descriptions by Schweinfurth and Junker of 20 years or more ago.

(For an abstract of the descriptions by these celebrated travellers, vide H.B.S. pp. 110-138.)

2. General Description.

The Bahr El Ghazal province is bounded on the south and west by the Congo-Nile watershed, on the north by Boundaries, the Bahr El Arab and Bahr El Ghazal, and on the east by the Bahr El Jebel. Its previous history and that of the occupation of this province in 1900-01 by the Sudan Government is narrated elsewhere (vide Part II, Chaps. V and VII).

The northern boundary of the ferruginous tableland through which the western tributaries of the Nile pass from The various the watershed through the Bahr El Ghazal country may roughly be said to coincide with a line drawn through Rumbek areas, and Chamamui (Chak Chak). North of this and untU the sudd is reached, the country is flat, and the soil is clay, with gro-t plain ; of lo g grau and many swamps intervening — " The Steppes " of Schweinfurth. North-west of this the country is dry and covered with bush, cut up by small khors, which are full in the rainy season. The sudd extends from Lake No to Meshra El Rek (where a base post has been established), and stretches westwards towards Chamamui, to receive the contents of the Wau, Bongo, and Bahr El Arab rivers.

The tableland rises gradually towards the south and west to the watershed, the undulations of the surface becoming Tlie tablemore pronounced in this direction, and the khors more defined and frequent. Granitic outcrops, rising to 400 feet in some la"<lcases, are numerous along the higher slopes of the watershed. Everywhere ironstone and crystalline rock appear above the thin layer of soil that covers them. Nevertheless, on the lower slopes and in the basins of the various khors the soil is profitable and fertile, generally of a rich copper colour with a certain amount of sandstone soil. In Telgona district and the country round, especially to the north and west, are several granitic outcrops, the seven-peaked Telgona and the conical hill of Lutu being the most remarkable. Great forests cover the country almost throughout from east to west. In the steppes of the lower level there are many grass plains, which become vast swamps in the rains. In the table-land the open plains are of no great area.

The soil, both in the swamps and in the land liable to annual immdation, is a rich black clayey loam. In the Soil ami portions further away from the rivers there is often a large mixture of sand washed down from the higher lands. Most geological of it is, however, very suitable for cultivation. Alluvial plains border one or both banks of all the more important rivers for a considerable distance up their courses. It is only in the upper reaches that the alluvial deposits almost disappear and that the rocky tree-clad slopes descend abruptly to the river. The soil on the higher lands is usually sandy, and clayey in depressions or near streams. It overlies a pitted, ferruginous stone or laterite, which, in its turn, rests on granite, which in places degenerates into gneiss, schists, or quartzite. These granitic rocks are, as a rule, not visible in the lower portion of the highlands, which only show abundance of ironstone, but further inland outcrops of granite become more frequent, and the country becomes more undulating, forming long, low hill ranges, or throwing up solitary granitic hills, usually rounded in outline, but occasionally more rugged in appearance.