AND THE NILE 



143 



Dufile and Fort Berkeley, there are few trees to be seen anvwhere near 

 the river, though there is rich forest iu the valleys of the tributary streams. 



The Nile is broad as far north as Dufile, with lake-like windings in parts, 



IN I III Ml K 1.1,1 >\\ 



of uncertain channel, containing many sandlianks and islands, and floating 

 masses of grass which look like {lermanent islands. P\om Dufile north-west 

 to Fort Berkeley the river narrows and falls nearly 1,()0() feet in continual 

 rapids and rushes. The scener}^ of the gorges between the confluence of 

 the considerable Kiver Asua and the l^abore Kapids is said by ^Ir. Lionel 

 Deele to be one of the finest bits of natural beauty in tlie Protectorate. 

 From Fort Berkeley north-west the banks of the river become increasingly 

 marshy until the eye wearies of papyrus and horizons of wliite-plumed 

 reeds. On the banks of the river almost the only form of tree is that 

 fresh-water mangrove, the ambatch (Heroniniera elaphroxylon), which has 

 been already described in connection with the Victoria Nyanza. All along 

 this section of the Nile the hippopotamuses are a danger and a nuisance. 

 White-eared cobus antelopes with bold markings of brown and white 

 irequent the reed brakes. Enormous crocodiles lie on the muddy banks 



