Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



destructive are purple thistles, six feet high with 

 large leaves, white on their under side. 



Presently we reached a clear flowing stream, 

 which, journeying from east to west, bubbled 

 along in its deep sandy bed. A little later we 

 came across one of those bottomless morasses 

 that exist only in Uganda, and about which one 

 bitterly complains. One sinks up to the waist in 

 black, thick, stinking mud ; and although in some 

 places attempts have been made to erect a kind 

 of bridge with the stems of the abundant Dom 

 palm, these places are often just the most danger- 

 ous, because the stems, having no firm foundation, 

 are apt to roll away from underfoot when one 

 steps on them. The incidents of African travel 

 must be experienced to be appreciated. To jump 

 from one plank to another, to miss one's footing 

 and fall up to the breast in water and mud, to 

 feel the burning sensation caused by the sharp- 

 pointed barbs of spear-grass, and above all to 

 witness the absurd appearance presented by a 

 whole company of people kicking about in swamp 

 and mud — all these things are part of the day's 

 march. However, one gets gradually hardened 

 by force of circumstances, and ceases to care very 

 much, till in the end one seems to forget these 

 troubles and difficulties to a great extent ; and it 

 is only when one's pet rifle or field-glasses are 

 dropped into the water that the nasty litde thing 

 called temper makes itself heard. 



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