I lO Seven Years in the Soudan.

the navigable channel runs a tongue of land covered with water plants.

The crocodiles are very abundant, and the natives hunt tliem with lances. To the handle of these a cord is attached, to which is tied a piece of ambash, which floats, on account of its lightness, and serves to mark the way taken by the crocodile in its flight.

The blacks follow' in their canoes (constructed of the single trunk of a tree, and capable of holding ten or twelve men) till the animal is dead. As I have already said, the flesh of the crocodile is of a nauseous taste, having a flavour of fish and musk. By mixing the musky fat of the crocodile Avith other animal fats, the natives make an ointment the}' use for rubbing themselves.

The crocodile, being a most voracious animal, does great harm. The oxen, while grazing along the banks, are seized by them, and dragged into the river ; many mitives, while bathing or swimming across the river, also become their victims.

The hippopotamus abounds likewise, and in many places as many as a hundred are found together. They are very dangerous to the boats whicli traverse the river by night, and in my explorations, when it Avas necessary to proceed by night, I used to keep them at a distance by the light of a lantern.

The hippopotamus, which the natives use as one of their chief aliments, has spongy, hard, and tasteless flesh. A piece of this meat is placed to cook in a saucepan without any water ; as soon as it is Avarm so much fat is melted as to fill the saucepan, and the meat, after boiling four or five hours, is reduced to the tenth part of its former bulk.

At Gondokoro a hippopotamus Avas killed b}' the military physician, Salali Effendi. I had the curiosity to see hoAV much its flesh Aveighed, and Avhen it Avas separated from the bones it Aveighed altogether about two thousand four hundred kilogrammes. By melting the fat a great quantity of oil might be obtained,