EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER YEI 371 



suiting. The moment after there was a rasping cry, and I 

 was aware of two men running after me, but I took no heed 

 till the sound of them came close behind, and then I turned 

 round suddenly and caught the old chief down on knee with 

 bow bent and arrow laid. Advancing a few steps towards 

 him, I waved him back to his village ; whereupon, with 

 strange suddenness, he turned round and slunk back like a 

 dog with his tail between his legs. 



After this we were not molested ; our camp might have 

 been a hundred miles from any village, and next morning 

 there was not a single Dinka to see us start. 



As we sped down the stream the towns became more 

 numerous and the Dinkas, gaining confidence, flocked down 

 to the river and lined the banks in hundreds. All naked and 

 with their bodies painted a ghastly white, they shouted and 

 danced and threw their long spears into the air. 



So we made thirty miles ; then trees and flocks and men 

 gradually disappeared and the river wound alone through 

 an empty plain. It widened and slackened and the impression 

 came over me that it was nearing its journey's end. Eagerly 

 we craned our necks for a sight of the Nile, but this reward 

 was still withheld ; nothing but marsh-land as far as the 

 horizon met our gaze, and then the river broke into two deep 

 and narrow channels, of which only the right held water at 

 this time. All round the land is so low that it becomes a 

 great marsh during the rains. 



We followed the channel for thirty miles, and then the 

 river lost itself in a lake, with an area of four square miles 

 surrounded by dense reed and sudd. We crossed the lake 

 w^ith irresistible recollections of Chad and picked up the 



