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any rate the elephants afforded us an amusing 

 spectacle lasting for nearly an hour. Then they 

 got tired, presumably, and, trumpeting loudly, lay 

 up in a clump of very high grass. We could 

 just see the bull's tusks turned in our direction to 

 safeguard his wives and little ones from the fear- 

 some object fast approaching him, enveloped in 

 a cloud of oily smoke. Nothing happened, how- 

 ever. He did not try conclusions with the 

 steamer. He was not a big fellow, and the bank 

 was swampy and unfit to land upon, so we passed 

 on our way. 



That practically brought us to Gondokoro, and 

 another hundred miles of marching. 



The country was by this time pretty dry, and 

 the water along our old road was inadequate for 

 our wants, and besides was only to be had by 

 digging ; so I decided to do this march to Nimule 

 by the Nile road which I had not seen before, 

 and where I was assured there would be plenty 

 of food for the porters. Moreover, I had plenty 

 of time to reach Nimule before the steam-launch 

 came. We were amply rewarded for this diver- 

 gence of route by the scenery we passed through 

 during the last portion. 



At first we marched along the low ground, 

 cutting across smaller streams and making long 

 and rather tedious detours round the swamps. 

 The grass was all burnt at this time of the year by 

 the sun or by the fires lighted on purpose by the 



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