LAKE NO 257 



when it fails, . . . words fail likewise. Thrice this year 

 (1914) we suffered grievous disillusionment, and the 

 torments and tortures endured under such circumstance 

 are indescribable. My diary records, "The very air is 

 damp and deadly enervating ; yet we stick to our work. 

 We take ten grains quinine nightly (instead of the 

 normal five)." 



During the period we lay anchored at Moghrem the 

 water-meeting of the two great river-systems we enjoyed 

 opportunity of watching the process by which Sudd is 

 formed and consolidated. Down the main stream came 

 drifting along the perky little water-cabbages (Pistia 

 stratiotes\ singly, or in groups of two, three, or a dozen. 

 Each individual voyager was no bigger than a saucer, 

 but its prehensile roots reached down a couple of feet 

 below. Slowly one by one they would circle round the 

 semi-stagnant confluence, the various groups gradually 

 coalescing till, in some shallow, the long pendent tendrils 

 found root-hold and the voyage ceased. Within an hour 

 several other units perhaps a small "raft"' had drifted 

 alongside and joined forces, till a consolidated islet of 

 floating plants, each securely moored, had formed as 

 big as a billiard-table. I particularly remember the size 

 because, at sundown, two jacanas thought it worth their 

 while to paddle out to investigate what game (in the 

 shape of aquatic insects) the new covert might shelter. 

 Next morning, since Nature's processes go on all night, 

 the islet had completely joined up with the shore and 

 occupied a space like the site of a cottage. Twenty-four 

 hours later, five or six cottages might have found room, 

 and the whole accumulation, as I found on examination, 

 was firmly anchored by root-hold to the river-bed beneath. 

 If such results be accomplished in a couple of days, one 

 ceases to wonder that, during centuries, the whole channel 

 of Nile should be blocked for 400 miles by an insignificant 



water-cabbage. 



R 



