THE BEACH ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN EXPEDITION 



Bv W. L. BROWN, 



Chirf Ta.vidrDiiist. U. S. National Museum 



111 January, 19-28, a ]iart\ of Iji'l^- ,<;anif hunters consisting of Mr. and 

 Mrs. William l>each, Mr. Alarcus Daly, and Mr. Osgood Field, sailed 

 for the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Africa, and it was my good fortune 

 to accompany the expedition as a representative of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. Sailing January 4 from Hoboken, we arrived at our 

 base, Khartoum, just three weeks later. Although desert-beset, this 

 is a most beautiful city, for we find shady palm groves and lovel\ 

 gardens of poinsettias, zinnias, roses, and other gorgeous flowers. A 

 strange feature of the landscape here is the fact that the very large 

 trees have the smallest leaves and the smallest trees have the largest 

 leaves. 



Next door to the Grand Hotel, where the party stopped, is the 

 Zoological Garden, which contains many interesting specimens of ani- 

 mal and ])ird life. Some of the animals, such as gazelles and antelopes, 

 and the larger birds, are allowed to roam at will over the garden. Plere 

 I saw the rarest sight that I shall probably ever see — a group of seven 

 shoe-bill storks. Had I visited the garden on the previous day I should 

 have seen eight instead of seven, for the assistant game warden told 

 me that on the day before, one (jf them had gotten into the elephant 

 pen and had ])een stepped on by the big pachyderm. 



We remained in Khartoum five days, securing ])ermits to hunt and 

 awaiting our boat, the Lord Cromer, which had been chartered by the 

 party from the Sudan Governinent for use as living quarters during 

 the hunt. It was about 100 feet long, and was manned by a crew 

 of Egyptians and native Sudanese. 



Leaving Khartoum February i, we traveled aljout a mile up the 

 Blue Nile and then entered the White Nile. For a day and a night 

 we passed through the Nile " sudd." an uninteresting and tiresome 

 journey. By sudd is meant the encjrmous growth of papyrus and 

 other aquatic plants encroaching upon and partly obstructing the river. 

 No animal life can be seen here — only high walls of the vegetable 

 barrier. During the rest of the journey up the river to Rejaf, the head- 

 waters of the Nile and the end of navigation, we stopujcd at practically 

 all the larger villages from Khartoum to Rejaf. 



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