Reconquest of the Water 



1902 was as follows : The first point is to discover the 

 actual bed of the river, which is from 15 to 20 feet 

 deep, and which can only be found by probing with 

 long poles. Then the papyrus, grass stems, &c., are 

 cut across, and when dry set on fire. Saws are used 

 to cut through the sudd near the edges of the river, 

 and cross cuts are made connecting them. Then the 

 steamer's bows are driven into one of these pieces or 

 blocks round which a strong hawser is passed. The 

 men stand on the ropes and the steamer goes astern, 

 dragging out the block, which is taken down stream and 

 let loose in the current, where it is eventually dashed to 

 pieces on the rapids.^^ 



The Negro savages which now inhabit these desolate 

 marshes are hunting and fishing tribes.^ There is so little 

 solid ground available that they cannot grow many crops : 

 they migrate to the dry watersheds when the floods 

 come on, and return with their cattle in the dry season. 



In both the Ganges and the Amazon river, floating 

 grass-islands are by no means unusual. There is a very 

 remarkable similarity in the vegetation of all three rivers, 

 and several of the floating plants are either identical or 

 closely related forms. The grasses are, however, differ- 

 ent, for in the Amazons it is species of Paspalum and 

 Panicum which form the islands. Spruce measured 

 one grass stem or rather rhizome 45 feet long and with 

 seventy-eight ^'joints" on it, and with roots at each of 

 them. Such grass-islands are uplifted from the muddy 

 beds of the lakes, where they form great morasses, and 

 torn off during the annual floods. 



In the great province ^* Hylaea " of the Amazons, the 

 river-banks are submerged for miles together and re- 

 main under water for months. The trees and shrubs 

 of this flooded part are all peculiar species, quite differ- 

 ent from the great forests which are never submerged. 



135 



