204 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



gress is slow. The wind blowing against us prevents sailing, the 

 forest renders towing impossible. With the boat-hook the crew pull 

 the little craft foot by foot, yard by yard, farther up the stream, till 

 one of their number espies a gap where he can gain a foothold in 

 the thick hedge-wall of the bank, and, committing his mortal body 

 to the care of Muhsa, the patron-saint of all sailors, and praying for 

 protection from the crocodiles which are here abundant, he takes the 

 towing-rope between his teeth, plunges into the water, swims to the 

 desired spot, fastens the rope round the trunk of a tree, and lets 

 his companions pull the boat up to it. Thus the boatmen toil from 

 early morning till late in the evening, yet they only speed the 

 traveller perhaps five, or at most ten miles on his way. Nevertheless 

 the days fly past, and none who have learned to see and hear need 

 suffer from weariness there. To the naturalist, as to every thought- 

 ful observer, every day offers something new; to the collector, a 

 wealth of material of every kind. 



Every now and again one comes upon traces of human beings. 

 If one follows them from the bank, along narrow paths hemmed in 

 on either side by the dense undergrowth, one arrives at the abodes 

 of a remarkable little tribe. They are the Hassanie who dwell there. 

 Where the forest is less dense, and where the trees do not form a three- 

 or four- fold roof with their crowns, but consist of tall, shady mimosas, 

 Kigelias, tamarinds, and baobabs, these folk erect their most delight- 

 ful tent- or booth-like huts, so different from all the other dwellings 

 one sees in the Soudan. "Hassanie" means the descendants of Hassan, 

 and Hassan means the Beautiful; and not without reason does this 

 tribe bear this name. For the Hassanie are indisputably the hand- 

 somest people who dwell in the lower and middle regions of the 

 river-basin, and the women in particular surpass almost all other 

 Soudanese in beauty of form, regularity of feature, and clearness of 

 skin. Both men and women faithfully observe certain exceedingly 

 singular customs, which among other people are, with reason, con- 

 sidered immoral. The Hassanie are therefore at once famous and 

 notorious, sought out and avoided, praised and scoffed at, extolled 

 and abused. To the unprejudiced traveller, eager to study manners 

 and customs, they afford much delight, if not by their beauty at 



