316 SAVAGE SUDAN 



lengthened sojourn local circumstance forbade. It was the 

 old, old cry water. Water, in African travel, ever repre- 

 sents the inexorable limit, and here there was none. We 

 had been forewarned that, although there were wells at 

 Eneikliba, yet the water was too horribly foul even to 

 wash in. We had therefore brought with us one full 

 day's supply for man and beast, and that quantity 

 marked the rigid limit of our stay. We worked every 

 available hour, and consoled ourselves with the hope that 

 on the return-journey, a month or so later, we should 

 contrive to engineer a more thorough exploration. Again 

 the Fates flouted us. A month later we found the con- 

 ditions at Eneikliba entirely changed ; the water had 

 evaporated and not a tithe of the birds remained. Twice 

 a promising chance had been lost, though the fault was 

 not wholly ours. 



This wooded swamp of Eneikliba recalled in its main 

 features these bird-resorts in Andalucia that we had dis- 

 covered forty years before and described in Wild Spain 

 La Rocina de la Madre, and the Lagunas de Santolalla 

 spots that subsequently became the Mecca of wandering 

 ornithologists. Here, at Eneikliba, another generation 

 may find a minor Medina ! The date for its exploration 

 should be before Christmas, and the primary consideration 

 a good water-supply ; or alternatively, during the breeding 

 season, whenever that may fall. 



On the eve of a New Year we encamped on a bluff 

 overlooking Blue Nile and, after dining on spatch-cocked 

 guinea-fowl, slept a la belle dtoile. I remember watching 

 the stars pale to the dawn that ushered in A.D. 1914; but 

 little did we or anyone else in the civilised world dream 

 of the calculated outrage that that year of Our Lord 

 was destined to see precipitated. 



Beneath our camp on " Blue Nile Bluff" nestled deep 

 tamarisk woods wherein we enjoyed profitable days 

 collecting. Among notable prizes here were a pair of 



