IM THE WESTEEN PEOVINCE 



amongst a congeries of ^vatel•fowL which are the only objects to please the 

 traveller's eye. Prominent among>t these are the saddle-billed storks, the 

 white egrets, the ^acred ibises, the pelicans, the marabou storks, and last, 

 but not least, that remarkable Bald'niceps rex, whose beak causes him 

 to receive from tlie Sudanese Arabs the name of " Father of a Ship " 

 (■• Abu :Merkab "). 



At some distance from the swampy banks of the Nile — which near 

 Gondokoro seems to form during the rainy season vast stagnant back- 

 waters — the ground rises from that level of between 1,000 and 2,000 feet 

 which characterises the trough of the Nile Valley from the south end of 

 T.ake Albert to Gondokoro, and stony hills grow into granite mountains 

 until in the Latuka country elevations of nearly 10,000 feet are reached. 

 Though the upper part of tlie Nile Valley is swampy, at some distance 

 from the banks of tlic ri\er or its tributaries there is considerable 

 drought and sterility of soil. The rainfall is uncertain, and the ground 

 not very retentive of moisture. IJut in (he mountainous land of 

 Latuka, and in the less mountainous l)ut still lofty Acholi district, there 

 is a more regular rainfall precipitated on these heights, and the soil lends 

 itself to a great deal of cultivation. The people keep large flocks and 

 herds, for which there is excellent grazing. Nevertheless, with the 

 ♦exception of a few sites in Latid<a, none of these lands seem to have the 

 pleasing aspect in general which is so characteristic of the countries 

 round the Victoria Nyanza. There is a great deal of coarse grass and 

 thorny scrub, and not much real forest. The hills are often masses of 

 rock with little vegetation growing on them, and the rivers degenerate 

 into swamps during the rainy season which support no useful vegetation. 

 The natives, except in Latuka (where there is a great deal of Muham- 

 madan influence, which has brought Arab costumes), are remarkably nude, 

 as they are throughout the whole of the Nile region from the northern 

 frontier of Lnyoro to within 200 miles of Khartum. 



There is a Nile Negro type represented by the Dinka, Bari, and 

 Acholi, extending from the western frontiers of Abyssinia to the 

 Bahr-al-Ghazal, and down through the Central Province almost to the 

 shore of the Victoria Nyanza, which, independently of any language 

 conn'ections, has a certain similarity of bodily appearance. Both sexes 

 tend to considerable stature. They are lean and spare in body, with 

 heads relatively small, necks long, and legs with powerful thighs, but 

 singularly lean and lank between the knee and the heel. The shins are 

 much bowed, and there is hardly any calf to the leg. The German 

 traveller, Heuglin, wrote about them in the 'sixties thus: "These people 

 give one the impression that amongst men they hold very much the 



