52 Bird Hunting on the White Nile. 



turned rapidly round in it as they built in each mouthful 

 of stuff which they brought. The outside of the nest 

 they plastered with cobwebs. 



As the dry season affects the foliage of the trees, so 

 does the river influence their growth. When the river 

 is at its greatest height many of the trees on its flat 

 banks are flooded half-way up their trunks. These trees 

 are numerous and of a fair size, but they quickly 

 decrease in number and height the further they grow 

 from the water, and are soon replaced by tall bushes. 

 The bushes struggle onwards, becoming gradually 

 smaller and getting thinner, until they finally cease 

 for the want of water. Beyond, as far as the eye can 

 see, stretches a flat desert with here and there a thorny 

 leafless bush or a clump of withered grass, while near 

 and far the deceitful mirage sets forth its enticing pools 

 and ponds and lakes a mock vegetation and a mock 

 water in a merciless fiery land. This desert is formed 

 for the most part of a grey and gritty cotton-soil, but 

 in a few places it is of a true yellow sand. 



At several points in our route there were " stations," 

 where a large amount of wood is cut and collected for 

 the use of the steamers. Notwithstanding the scarcity 

 of timber near Khartoum, and the fact that no other 

 fuel is available, the gangs of natives employed to chop 



