CLOSING INCIDENTS. 415 



mosquitoes in clouds ; but birds are scarce, and even the hippopotamus, though 

 not unknown, appears not to much hke these dreary surroundings. 



The last day of February, Theodore Roosevelt and the others of his 

 immediate party sailed on the steamer Dal for Khartum. For about four 

 hundred miles the steamer wandered in the above described maze of papyrus, 

 sometimes actually going south, in order to follow the bends and twists of the 

 stream, but never meeting any salvent feature to break the monotony. They 

 were pushing through the region of the famous "sudd", the Arabic name 

 (barrier) given to the masses of vegetabl-e growth which obstruct the river. 

 This "sudd" is caused by the papyrus and other seeds, the roots of which 

 plants grow together, and unite with the soil to form a compact mass. When, 

 as is frequently the case, violent storms sweep over the swamps, the vegeta- 

 tion shows a mixture of strength and weakness. Large masses are torn off, 

 but they carry their roots with them, and the roots carry earth and mud. 

 Sooner or later these islets collide, and become piled on the top of one another, 

 leaving the water to force its way as best it can below them. The river 

 thus becomes covered with a layer of earth and vegetable matter, ten or even 

 fifteen feet thick. Sometimes this monstrous growth entirely obstructs navi- 

 gation between Gondokoroand Khartum, and communication can be restored 

 only by cutting through it. 



The part of the Nile on which the colonel was now voyaging is known 

 as Bar-El-Jebel, or the mountain river, a name which suits well enough the 

 beautiful reaches south of Nimule, but it is not appropriate to the swamp just 

 described. At the end of that swamp is a lake called Wo, so overgrown with 

 weeds that it is hard to say how large it may be. Here the Bar-El-Jebel meets 

 the Bar-El-Gazal coming from the west, and the united stream, known as 

 Bar-El-Abyad or White Nile, turns sharply to the East, until, after receiving 

 the Sobot, it resumes its northerly direction. 



The party arrived at Mongalla, March 2, and immediately after landing 

 the Colonel performed the ceremony of planting a tree to commemorate his 

 visit. 



The previous two days Colonel Roosevelt encountered a fore-taste of the 

 strenuous hospitality which characterized his progress through the Soudan 

 and Europe. 



Leaving Gondokoro in the morning, he arrived at noon at Lady, an at- 

 tractive station on the Eucalave section of the Congo Free State, which 

 shortly reverts to England. 



