Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



ancient towers. We travelled alongr a kind of 

 hog's back which formed the watershed to the 

 west. We ascended, until we reached a large 

 plateau of clean granite of about two acres in 

 extent, whence we obtained a magnificent pano- 

 ramic view of the whole country. On the east 

 we looked down upon the plains through which 

 we had arrived, which stretched far away beyond 

 the Nile until they melted into the grey outline 

 of the distant mountains. Having descended 

 from this rocky plateau we carefully made our 

 way across a slippery channel that had been worn 

 by the sundry torrents of the rainy season, and 

 once more arrived at level ground. Upon our 

 left a mass of bold ruins, the skeleton granite 

 remains of a perished mountain, which formed a 

 shelter from the morning sun, tempted us to halt. 

 On our right we were hemmed in by a great wall 

 of rock, sloped like a huge whale, some half a 

 mile in length and fifty feet high. From the 

 southern extremity of this vast block of rain- 

 washed granite rose the rocky and fantastic hill 

 of Muyu, crested with fine timber. Straight 

 before us was a dead flat plain, the north end 

 being marked by a curious and beautiful assem- 

 blage of immense blocks of granite and splendid 

 groups of weeping acacia. 



Two or three days spent in wandering through 

 the country were all that could be managed, as 

 there was a boat to be caught at Gondokoro, and 



344 



