THROUGH AFRICA FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO. 445 



filling their pitchers, and they invariably treated me to a somewhat 

 embarrassing- dance; it was characterized by the wildest abandon, and 

 terminated in every one hurling themselves in a mass on the ground 

 and then dashing otf hi all directions into the bush, uttering shrieks 

 impossil)le to descri1)e. When I showed thenj beads or cloth and 

 attempted to purchase food, they ran away, hiding their faces, and 

 refused to look at them, thinking they were fetich. Even at night 

 bands of natives would approach and chant to me, so that I was greatly 

 relieved to once more enter the land of the Dinkas, who, even though 

 rather obstreperous, at least refrained from singing. A remarkable 

 thing was the extraordinary manner in which the Dinkas contrived to 

 conceal their enormous herds of cattle until they were quite sure of my 

 intentions; they kept them quiet by lighting small smoke tires under 

 their nostrils, and we often walked right into the middle of a cattle 

 village before we were aware of their proximity. A few miles north 

 of the upper junction of the Bahr-el-Zaraf, a considerable stream flows 

 from the east, which I am inclined to think flows from the marshes in 

 which the Pibro, the large affluent of the Sobat, rises. For 30 miles 

 at least it flows due east to west, and I am sure that it can not ris(> in 

 the Gondokoro hills, as suggested by Justus Perthes's map. Any 

 drainage that comes from these hills nuist, from the contour of the 

 country, flow into the Nile or into the marsh by the long lagoons that 

 I have already mentioned, or down the other side of the watershed 

 into the Sobat. Should my surmise as to the source of this affluent 

 prove correct, the country between the Zaraf and Sobat is an island. 

 The natives at Bohr assured me that there was no water for many 

 days east, and there was a considerable amount of w^ater coming down 

 the affluent in question. This would suggest that the streams passed 

 by Lupton Bey in his journey east of Lado either drain into the Nile 

 south of Bohr, or, what is more probable, into the marshes of the 

 Pibro. 



This Kohr is the northern boundary of the Dinkas. Shortly before 

 reaching it I was treacherously attacked by the inhabitants of the vil- 

 lage near which I had camped. They gave some ti-ouble in vnm]) dur- 

 ing the evening, but appeared quite friendly in the morning, and turned 

 out to the number of about 100 to accompany me on the march, as 

 had often happened to me before. Sometimes there were fully 1,000 

 natives with me; they took me as a huge jest, and wanted to see as 

 much of it as possible. I had noticed that they were ci-owding lound 

 me. when suddenly they started, killed my best man with a spear wound 

 through the heart,, and broke the skulls of two more; the rest threw 

 down their loads and ])olted, my small boy with my revolver among 

 the rest. A quick right and left laid out the chief and his prime min- 

 ister, and I swung round just in time to dodge a spear and to ward a 

 blow at my head from a club, which felled me to my knees. I responded 



