XI 



THE BAHR-EL-ZERAF 



I MADE the acquaintance of the Bahr-el- 

 Zeraf in the good ship Skabluka, otherwise 

 known as the "greyhound of the Zeraf" 

 She is a gunboat — a stern- wheeler, as all 

 the old-patterned boats are — and was first used 

 in the old days in the various fights against the 

 Dervish hordes that took place further down the 

 river. She gets along to some purpose, although 

 at any moment she may begin to pant, poor dear 

 thing, as if she was breathing her last gasp 

 before going to the bottom. 



Well, I was proceeding up the river after the 

 week spent in shooting at Meshra Zeraf — which 

 is on the main stream, and nowhere near the 

 Bahr-el-Zeraf — following hard after a letter of 

 introduction which had been despatched to her 

 owner, Mr. Struv^ of the Sudan Civil Service, 

 asking him if he could give me any assistance in 

 the shooting line, and a trip on his boat if he 

 happened to be paying a visit to the Bahr-el- 

 Zeraf. I had not heard whether he had received 

 my letter or not, so on rounding the bend of the 

 Nile near Taufikia in the gunboat I had been 

 lent at Kodok, I was somewhat disconcerted to 



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