THE SUDD 263 



specialised man can only progress if at all by parlous 

 labour, making good yard by yard, any pursuit of 

 the situtunga is humanly impossible. The animal, 

 moreover, is strictly nocturnal in habit, and it is by 

 the merest chance that an odd individual is occasionally 

 sighted at dusk or dawn. Never one did I detect 

 myself. (See sketch of Situtunga's hoofs at p. 152.) 



Up to the present, the Sudd as a whole has never been 

 explored by trained field-naturalist ; nor, at the moment 

 (January, 1915), does such an undertaking appear likely. 

 Scientific research has been brought to a standstill before 

 by such vermin as Mad Mullahs and Mahdis. These, 

 however, were mere fanatics plunged in abysmal ignorance; 

 this time . . . ! Whether the intricate recesses of the 

 Sudd shelter fresh forms of beast and bird, fish and 

 reptile, may not be known. Some day, in happier 

 years, the investigation will be undertaken. Such enter- 

 prise will, however, require a very special outfit alike 

 in men and material, especially should the rainy season 

 be included and that is the epoch which promises 

 by far the best results. For practically nothing is yet 

 known, zoologically speaking, of the summer season in 

 the Sudan, not even on its drier plains. How much 

 more would the difficulty be accentuated in the submerged 

 Sudd? 



A summer season spent in the Sudd what time its 

 sodden breath is poisoned by malaria and reeks with 

 mosquitoes in millions represents a test of physical 

 fitness and endurance not lightly to be considered. 

 Keenness and enthusiasm will never lack ; but constitu- 

 tions toughened to that sticking-point are ever less 

 abundant. 



Our own experience in the Sudd was limited to the 

 outermost fringes of the unknown we merely "nibbled" 

 it and that only in winter. Still there are no keener field- 

 naturalists, nor men better qualified for such work, than 

 my two companions of 1913-14. Nothing discouraged 



