SUDD 89 



to be about twenty feet deep, the current almost 

 imperceptible. Favoured as we had been above our 

 predecessors, it would have been rank folly to retire, 

 so we advanced. We had barely gone fifty yards 

 before the stern-wheel and rudders were choked 

 with sudd, which had to be cut away with knives and 

 axes, while the steam poundage, which had fallen 

 to nothing, had to be raised. Another hundred 

 yards brought us to a short winding stretch of clear 

 water, and so we went on till at 4 P.M. we halted, 

 having made about four miles. The sudd, as may 

 be seen, did not by any means form a solid barrier. 

 After the first two miles the banks had closed in 

 till the bushes were about two hundred yards apart. 



Every one was beat, so we decided to halt near a 

 small bit of bank that showed above the water. I 

 had foreseen that this would be necessary, so steam 

 was up on the Atbara ; when the Abu Klea halted 

 I at once started off in the former to reconnoitre. 

 We managed to get some distance by dint of hauling 

 the launch over those bits of sudd through which 

 we could not charge our way. A sailor would swim 

 out with a rope, fasten it to a tree or bit of sudd, and 

 we would then heave, keeping the sudd down below 

 the bows till we were over. 



We found that the waterway improved greatly, so 

 put about, reaching the gunboat after dark. A deputa- 

 tion of the crew then waited on me to request that 

 we should return. It was pointed out that they were 

 paid to go anywhere, that they had over a month's 

 provisions, and that at our present rate we could hope 



