CH. xiv] WADKI.M 389 



Elephant hunters face death at every turn —from fever, 

 from the assaults of warlike native tribes, from their 

 conflicts with their giant quarry ; and the unending 

 strain on their healtli and strength is tremendous. 



At noon the following day we stopped at the deserted 

 station of \Vadelai, still in liritish territory. There 

 have been outposts of white mastery on the Upper Nile 

 for many years, but some of them are now abandoned, 

 for as yet there has been no successful attempt at such 

 development of the region as would alone mean per- 

 manency of occupation. The natives whom we saw 

 offered a sharp contrast to those of Uganda ; we were 

 again back among wild savages. Near the landing at 

 ^¥adelai was a group of thatclied huts surrounded by 

 a fence ; there were small fields of mealies and beans, 

 cultivated by the w^omen, and a few cattle and goats ; 

 while big wickerwork fish-traps showed that the river 

 also offered a means of livelihood. Both men and 

 women were practically naked ; some of the women 

 entirely so except for a few beads. Here we were 

 joined by an elephant hunter, Quentin Grogan, who 

 w^as to show us the haunts of the great square-mouthed 

 rhinoceros, the so-called white rhinoceros, of the Lado, 

 the only kind of African heavy game which wc had 

 not yet obtained. We were allowed to hunt in the 

 Lado, owing to the considerate courtesy of the Belgian 

 Government, for wliicli I was sincerely grateful. 



After leaving NV^adelai we again went downstream. 

 The river flowed through immense beds of papyrus. 

 Beyond these on either side were rolling plains, gradually 

 rising in the distance into hills or low mountains. The 

 plains were covered witli high grass, dry and withered ; 

 and the smoke here and there showed that the natives, 

 according to their custom, were now burning it. There 



