Bound for Khartoum Once More 



now, though we came across more herds than we 

 had met in Uganda. The country is not very- 

 populous for ten miles back, those natives who 

 could having crossed to the British sphere of in- 

 fluence some years ago. The few villages near 

 the Nile are usually the property of someone 

 who is "wanted" in Uganda, and who, having 

 fled over the Nile, stays there willy-nilly. 



We shaped our course north-west, towards a 

 wooded range of rocky hills, whence we hoped 

 to obtain a orood idea of the config-uration of the 

 country. We marched as usual in single file, 

 forcing our way through the tangle of grass and 

 weeds. The distance seemed some six miles 

 only. This was as lovely a route as can be con- 

 ceived. Magnificent trees (acacias), whose thick 

 dark foliage drooped near the ground, were 

 grouped in clumps, springing from the crevices 

 between larore blocks of ^ranite. Brooks of the 

 purest water rippled over the time-worn channels 

 cut through granite plateaux, and as we halted to 

 drink at the tempting stream, the water tasted as 

 cold as though from a European spring. The 

 entire country on our left was a succession of the 

 most beautiful rocky undulations and deep ver- 

 dant glades, at the bottom of which flowed peren- 

 nial streams. The banks of these rivulets were 

 richly clothed with ornamental timber, the green 

 foliage contrasting strongly with the dark grey 

 blocks of granite which resembled the ruins of 



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