454 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



manity; and their rule in the Soudan has been astound- 

 ingly successful and beneficial from every stand-point.* 



We steamed onward down the Nile; sometimes tying 

 up to the bank at nightfall, sometimes steaming steadily 

 through the night. We reached the Sud, the vast papyrus 

 marsh once so formidable a barrier to all who would jour- 

 ney along the river; and sunrise and sunset were beautiful 

 over the endless, melancholy stretches of water reeds. 

 In the Sud the only tree seen was the water-loving am- 

 batch, light as cork. Occasionally we saw hippos and croc- 

 odiles and a few water birds; and now and then passed 

 native villages, the tall, lean men and women stark naked, 

 and their bodies daubed with mud, grease, and ashes to 

 keep off the mosquitoes. 



On March 4th we were steaming slowly along the 

 reedy, water-soaked shores of Lake No, keeping a sharp 

 lookout for the white-eared kob and especially for the 

 handsome saddle-marked lechwe kob which has been 

 cursed with the foolishly inappropriate name of "Mrs. 

 Gray's waterbuck." 



Early in the morning we saw a herd of these saddle- 

 marked lechwe in the long marsh grass and pushed the 

 steamer's nose as near to the shore as possible. Then 

 Cuninghame, keen-eyed Kongoni, and I started for what 

 proved to be a five hours' tramp. The walking was hard; 

 sometimes we were on dry land, but more often in water 

 up to our ankles or knees, and occasionally floundering 



* The despotism of Mahdist rule was so revolting, so vilely cruel and hideous, that 

 the worst despotism by men of European blood in recent times seems a model of 

 humanity by comparison; and yet there were nominal "anti-militarists" and self- 

 styled "apostles of peace" who did their feeble best to prevent the destruction of 

 this infamy. 



