258 SAVAGE SUDAN 



On the return-voyage, a month later, I looked with 

 interest for my pet islet it was gone ! Nothing nowa- 

 days escapes the vigilance of the navigation-patrols. 



It is only fair to the water-cabbage to add that it is 

 not the sole criminal. Several other aquatic plants are 

 capable of locomotion and aid in the general consolida- 

 tion. So far as I saw, the water-cabbage chiefly came 

 down the Bahr-el-Ghazal. It was um-soof (tiger-grass 

 literally "Mother of wool") and even papyrus that 

 formed most of the floating islets that drifted on the 

 main stream of the Mountain-Nile. Ambatch also, 

 being "water-rooted," is adept at locomotion. 



The mouth of Mountain- Nile and by the same token 

 the gateway of the Sudd lies within 200 yards of the 

 marly islet whence emanate these notes. To-morrow at 

 daybreak we propose to ascend it. 



AFRICAN CORMORANTS AND JACANA. 

 (Sketched south of Tonga, Jan. 3 1st, 1913.) 



