AND THE NILE 



115 



same place which storks or flamingoes occupy with regard to other birds^ 

 Their leisurely long stride over the rushes is only to be compared to that 

 of the stork. Like marsh-birds, they are accustomed for an hour at a 

 time to stand motionless on one leg, supporting the other above the 

 knee." It is curious that the last characteristic extends from the Nyam- 

 Nyam on the north-west right across the Nile to the Masai and Kavirondo 

 of the south-east, even though these tribes may inhabit a mountainous 

 and not a marshy country. The traveller passing through the Acholi, 

 Bari, and Latuka countries of the Nile Province will constantly see 



Il8. SADDLE-BILLED STORKS ON THE NILE 



natives standing on one leg on the top of an ant-hill with the foot of the 

 other leg pressed firmly against the lower part of the standing leg's thigh, 

 while the man obtains further stability by resting one hand on a long 

 stick. 



The villages in these Nile countries are generally little collections of 

 huts, with a cattle kraal and places for sheep and goats, the whole 

 surrounded and protected from wild beasts by a hedge made of the 

 branches of the thorny acacia. The flounced thatching of these Nilotic 

 villages is particularly characteristic of the Sudan, and extends from the 

 west coast of Lake Albert to the vicinity of Khartum, and perhaps thence 

 westwards into Kordofan and the countries near Lake Chad. It is best 

 VOL. I. 10 



