EL BAER-EL-ARAB. 239 reception, and that oxen had been collected to meet us at the Bahr-el-Arab to transport our goods.

We camped there the following day, as there was an immense pool of muddy water at Atraha, and the guide said it was a long distance yet to the Bahr-el-Arab.

A great many antelopes had been shot that day, so we and our men had plenty of meat, but I must confess we found it rather tough; even beating it between two logs of wood, after their fashion, did not make it tender.

"We found that the guide had deceived us, for the next day a short march brought us to the Bahr-el-Arab. We saw a large troop of baboons, who made a frightful noise as the caravan passed, and which were in a wood near the river, but thought it best to leave them unmolested. We were much disappointed in the river, for, though the channel is a hundred and twenty yards broad, there was very little water, and that only four feet deep ; the banks are only fifteen feet above the waterlevel. No tsetse flies are seen north of the river, and elephants and large game never cross it now. The Arabs, however, ford it on horses to hunt them and also the ostrich, of which great numbers are found near this place. The natives say that from Liffi to Khartoum the Bahr-el-Arab is the only river which is not entirely dry in the summer months.