8o SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



The notes of my report describe the conditions of 

 things in July and August. Up to Nasser the crops 

 were poor and not yet ripe ; the amount of cultiva- 

 tion small. The country on either side of the river 

 was overgrown by grass some seven feet high. The 

 post at Nasser, on a mud-patch, loo by 50 yards, 

 surrounded by swamps, was practically boycotted by 

 the surrounding natives. Near I tang the crops, mostly 

 maize, were just ripe and very plentiful. A quantity 

 of rubber from the landolphia vines was being brought 

 in by the Anuaks of the vicinity. 



The trade of this post, Itang, was to be with the 

 people of the Rases of Gore and Goti, both of whose 

 capitals, Showa and Datame, were only a few days' 

 journey from it. The post consisted of a square mile 

 on the river, and although in Abyssinia was con- 

 sidered as Sudanese territory. I had to report against 

 the position of the post on sanitary grounds as well 

 as on the grounds that, if a position were selected 

 further up-stream, as was done shortly afterwards, 

 when Gambela was chosen (where General Gatacre is 

 buried), communication between it and its markets 

 would be possible for more than five months in the 

 year, while that with Khartum would be about the 

 same. The country round Itang and Ideni, a few 

 miles further up-stream, where I went some distance 

 inland, was at the time quite impassable for caravans. 

 I did not pass a single spot where a night's halt could 

 have been made. The country was inundated every- 

 where. 



I left my steamer wooding at Ideni, and, accom- 



