Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



the Madi tribe behind us and make friends with 

 the Bari. 



All the villages we have passed since leaving 

 Nimule are much of a muchness. A thorn zeriba, 

 strong enough to withstand the attacks of a 

 marauding leopard or hyena on the village flocks 

 of sheep and goats, surrounds a collection of huts, 

 each abode made in a circular ring of stone slabs, 

 or of wattle and daub, with a peaked thatched 

 roof, the eaves well overlapping the walls. Dotted 

 amongst these are the curious-shaped granaries, 

 glorified baskets, some five feet high and four feet 

 in diameter, perched on poles to keep the rats and 

 mice at bay. These contain the tribesmen's worldly 

 wealth in the shape of dhurra or millet. Litde 

 else is grown in these districts, as they are too far 

 north of the equator, and their climate is not 

 steamy enough for many bananas. Dhurra and 

 a very few sweet potatoes form the staple diet of 

 the people. 



At last the tenth day's marching sees us leaving 

 the dry thorn scrub — we have passed very few 

 villages en route — and entering the sparse cultiva- 

 tion that betokens the vicinity of Gondokoro ; 

 and then the sight of the Union Jack gladdens 

 our hearts as we walk across the burning parade 

 ground to the shady trees near the officials' 

 houses, only a few yards distant from Sir Samuel 

 Baker's old encampment, with Belinian hill 

 behind us on our right hand, the scene of many 



32 



