Bohr El Ghaml.

167 Place. Description.

Camping ground Wood-station . . .

Large tree Gessi's place Jau River or Mayyeh Ahmed Arabi Wood-station ...

14 41 53 61 63 66 82 be seen in myriads and resemble a flight of locusts. The SerAt fly is very bad on the Bahr El Ghazal. The ant-hills certainly form a distinctive feature of the Ghazal scenery. Nowhere else are they so large or so numerous. They are generally from 20 to 50 yardp apart. At mile 49 good halting or camping ground, fairly dry ; bushes and trees njrht. Large clump of big trees \ mile away south. This clump is close to tlie stream running into Mayyeh Deleb. From liere on, cliannel very narrow ; papyrus both sides ; liable to be blocked with sudd at any time ; large islands of sudd are met, often taking up whole width of stream up to the junction with the Bahr El Arab, wliere river is much wider again. Mayyeh right : river bends sharply, cliannel only width of steamer, 17 feet ; current very fast ; numbers of owls and Baloeniceps Rex seen about, also hippopotami ; some wood left, 500 yards afvay. Large trees left, close to water, good for fuel ; village on horizon right, and two Dom palms ; channel opens up. At mile 53 wooding-station left. The papyrus belt gets wider as the river is ascended, and at 57 miles the forest on the left bank comes down close to the water's edge and the river skirts it for some 2 miles. The trees are large, but the belt is only a few lumdred yards wide. The scenery here is beautiful, as the ground is high and glades of tine trees are scattered about the grassy plain. Many elephants are to be seen. On the right bank is a wide marsh through which the river channel has evidently wandered at times. This is the beginning of the reach in whicli the Bahr El Ghazal is occasionally closed by sudd. At 61 miles, in 1880, Marno found his first block here, and in November, 1898, and Apiil, 1899, it was blocked. Large solitary tree right bank. The channel is very narrow, deep, and winding. At present it runs under the high bank, but it is clear that it could easily be blocked at one of the many bends, and in such a case it would doubtless form a series of lagoons and mayyehs in the adjacent papyius marsh. After leaving the left bank forest for a time the river at mile 02 again returns to it. The depth of the channel suddenly decreases to 5 feet, but soon deepens again to 10 and 13 feet. This shoal is doubtless caused by decomposed sudd which lias sunk to the bottom. Such a bar is one of the frequent causes of a block. The sudd raises the bed level, and other masses floating down ground upon the obstruction and the channel is speedily closed. The Bahr El Ghazal has evidently changed its course here very recentlj'. It is now much closer to the left bank than it was in 1899. The change has probably been caused by a block of sudd. It was near here, i.e., at mile 63, that Gessi Pasha had such a disastrous experience in January, 1880. His steamers, on descending this river, were imprisoned in the sudd for some C weeks, and he lost over 100 men. Had it not been for the opportune arrival of Marno in the " Bordein " none of the party could have escaped. They were on the verge of starvation and it was impossible to obtain fuel for the steamers, being cut off' from the shore by an impassable swaMip. These 6 or 7 miles of the Bahr El Ghazal must always be more or less dangerous, as regards possible closure by sudd, at certain seasons of the year. In 1900 and 1901 the channel was open, but in the spring of 1899 it was closed not far up-stream of this point. The channel is extremely contracted, having a width of only 12 yards and a depth of 13 feet. Tlie course is so tortuous that it Is difficult to follow all the turns. The whole of this area must, in the rainy seasons, be a reedy lake. At mile 64 the river emerges from this dreadful marsh and the width increases to 30 yards. The banks average 2j feet above water level. The country on either side is generally higher. On the right, bush is dotted about, and the ant-hills reappear to the left in a large grassy plain. At mile 65 the river widens into a lagoon, some 400 yards broad, and a mile in length. At the up-stream end of this lagoon a large mayyeh is said by the Arabs to form the outlet of the Jau River, which is another of the tributary streams that feed the Bahr El Ghazal from the south. This channel, which is known as the Mayyeh Ahmed Arabi, runs more or less parallel to the Bahr El Ghazal for some 40 miles, taking otf it at Lake Anibadi, or 88 miles from the point where the Ghazal and the Deleb join. It is often at a considerable distance from the main stream, but glimpses are to be seen of it at times. A fine tamarindtree close to the edge of the mayyeh assists recognition of this spot. In 1F99 the Bahr El Ghazal was blocked by sudd near this junction. The right bank continues to be fairly high, but the left is low and must be flooded for a long distance. The stream is now more rapid. The air in the mornings here is cool and damp, but a strong marshy smell prevails. At mile 74 wood-station left bank. Elephants, and the Euphorbia first, appear. This shrub is fairly plentiful from this point up-stream. For several miles there is little change in the conditions, but at mile 79 trees are visible on the right bank, about 1,500 yards from the livi-r. The intermediate country is flooded. A few Dinka are occasionally met with, but no villages. The absence of human habitations on this river is very striking. Since tlie Nuer villages were left behind at mile 43, not a sign of life has been visible. A small but deep khor joins the river on the lefc bank here.