BEYOND THE SUDD 295 



Hell's Gate. Here the narrowed Nile surges through a 

 rock-girt gorge at a speed of eight knots double its 

 normal velocity. The river, moreover, immediately above 

 the neck of the gorge sweeps round in a right-angle bend, 

 thus doubling or trebling the danger of the transit. 

 On the upward voyage we had forced the passage 

 without an ounce of power left to spare. Coming down, 

 we essayed to "rush it," the steamer's own lo-knot 

 speed accelerated in the above ratio. In the neck of the 

 narrows she struck an unseen rock forward, and, pivoted 

 on this, instantly swung round to starboard. I could 

 see that her bows pointing westward would clear ; but 

 the stern ? ... it appeared absolutely inevitable that that 

 must crash into the piled rocks that there projected 

 far into the stream, and around which the pent-up current 

 raged and foamed in the style of a Norwegian salmon- 

 river. All hands hung on tight and tense as the ship 

 swung round, full broadside across stream, towards the 

 danger-point. Luckily the towering top-hamper of these 

 Nile three-deckers had deceived eye-judgment, and the 

 crucial right-angle passed without the expected shock. 

 The length of the Omdurman is 130 feet: the breadth 

 of Hell's Gate must be a foot or two more it was a 

 matter of inches. 



We had an almost equally perilous passage downwards 

 in March 1919, only getting through stern-first and at 

 the third attempt, and that solely owing to the cool and 

 skilful handling of our Arab navigators. 



Novel and picturesque as are these rock-girt rapids 

 with the swirling stream between, yet the persuasive 

 power of dynamite may here be profitably employed so 

 soon as the Sudan has a few (E. or otherwise), to 

 spare. 



(vi) HOMEWARD- BOUND 



Hi 



Hardly had we bade farewell a last farewell to 

 Governor Stigand, and remote Mongalla had sunk from 



