DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 463 



one evening Dr. Mearns saw some guinea-fowl go to roost 

 in a bush in which two kites had already settled them- 

 selves for the night, the kites and the guineas perching 

 amiably side by side. 



We stopped at the mouth of the Sobat to visit the 

 American Mission, and were most warmly and hospitably 

 received by the missionaries, and were genuinely impressed 

 by the faithful work they are doing, under such great 

 difficulties and with such cheerfulness and courage. The 

 Medical Mission was especially interesting. It formed an 

 important part of the mission work; and not only were 

 the natives round about treated, but those from far away 

 also came in numbers. At the time of our visit there were 

 about thirty patients, taking courses of treatment, who 

 had come from distances varying from twenty-five miles 

 to a hundred and fifty. 



We steamed steadily down the Nile. Where the great 

 river bent to the east we would sit in the shade on the for- 

 ward deck during the late afternoon and look down the 

 long glistening water-street in front of us, with its fringe 

 of reedbed and marshy grassland and papyrus swamp, and 

 the slightly higher dry land on which grew acacias and 

 scattered palms. Along the river banks and inland were 

 villages of Shilluks and other tribes, mostly cattle owners; 

 some showing slight traces of improvement, others utter 

 savages, tall, naked men, bearing bows and arrows. 



Our Egyptian and Nubian crew recalled to my mind 

 the crew of the dahabiah on which as a boy I had gone 

 up the Egyptian Nile thirty-seven years before; especially 

 when some piece of work was being done by the crew as 

 they chanted in grunting chorus "Ya allah, ul allah." 



