AND THE NILE 



149 



Emin. First came the invasion of the Dervishes, following on the Mahdi's 

 revolt, and these Dervishes carried fire and sword uj) the Nile, though 

 they could not venture far from its banks. Then came that awful out- 

 break of rinderpest of some fifteen years ago. This destroyed the cattle 

 of the Bari, and, deprived of their cattle, they, not being agriculturists, 

 sickened and died in numbers. The Dervishes destroyed Kmin's stations. 



121. FLOATING ISLANDS AND WA'I'KK-Ll LIES (.i.\ THE NILE 



and did not continue the cultivation he had begun. The land, therefore, 

 near the Nile is now very desolate, though rapidly recovering under tlie 

 influence of constant steamer communication with Khaitum and tlie 

 trading intercourse with Kgypt which has followed on the cutting of 

 the sudd. 



The sudd (which should really be spelt " sadd " *— Schweinfurth first 



* It is an Arabic word pronounced like the " sud " in "soapsuds"; but this is 

 really a short sound of the vowel "a" in phonetic spelling. 



