236 



SAVAGE SUDAN 



orange-yellow and the naked face bright red. This 

 bird abounds on every backwater. Often he stands 

 statuesque, awaiting heron-wise some vision of a moving 

 victim ; others stalk slowly about, probing deeply in the 

 shallows. The gullets of those shot are usually crammed 

 with slow-swimming fish perch, bullheads, and the 



" STANDS STATUESQUE." WOOD-!BIS. 



strange half-reptilian creatures (many, it is probable, 

 unknown to science) with which these marshes swarm. 

 The crop of one contained eels and frogs. 



White Nile is simply stiff 'with fish. Throw a crust 

 from your cabin-port ; instantly you see it in torment, 

 dipping and diving as a score of small fry tug and tear. 

 With rudest tackle, or in two or three casts with a 

 seine- net, our crew kept us daily supplied with fish. 

 Some of these weighed six, eight, and ten pounds and 

 upwards (elsewhere are related combats with much 

 heavier opponents) but could scarce be commended as 



