209 CHAPTER XXVI.

FATIGUING MARCHES.

Laoo — Tlic Dinkas ami the Kits — Three men drowned — Agar — Rumbek — Tlie Atots — European slave dealers— Obstruction on the Nile.

Ox August 26tli I left Gaba-Sharabc at an early hour in company Avitli Dr. Zuccliinetti, taking the direction of Rumbek, a village of about two thousand five hundred inhabitants and chief place of the district of Rhol. Our direction Avas to the west by a path hardly wide enough for a man to pass. On both sides, the grass, about ten feet high, hid the panorama of the country from our eyes. The abundant rains had swelled the Nile, and the country, except some small tracts, Avas all flooded. In various places the height of the water reached up to the neck of a man of middle stature, and the march was rendered extremely fatiguing, especially as tlie Aveeds entangled the feet of the pedestrians as in a net, so that they Avere obliged to stop every moment to free themselA''es.

Two days after Ave arriAed at the village of Laoo. Ridi]ig was also dangerous because of the great holes formed by the passage of the elephants, and cAery moment my poor horse Avas in danger of breaking his leg.

In the village of Laoo the cabins are distant from each other about four hundred yards, and between them is an abundant cultivation of doora, AA'hich quite p