RIVER SCENERY 113 



By the time we reached the mouth of the Agwei we 

 were so elated that I put off in the Atbara to explore 

 a bit of that river, while the Abii Klea went on 

 and "wooded." 



I little expected to find it a fine river running almost 

 all the time between high banks, and about fifty 

 yards broad by eighteen feet deep. We had not gone 

 far before we came to a solid belt of sudd. As the left 

 bank was flooded we managed to bring the launch, 

 through a W-shaped course, up-stream of the belt. 

 As the river promised so well, and we had come out 

 without provisions, we returned to the gunboat, which 

 we again left at dawn next day. 



Again we passed the first belt of sudd. After steam- 

 ing a good way, passing en route a couple of big 

 floating sudd islands, we came to another belt. The 

 right bank here was overflowed, but so slightly that 

 we had to get out and lift the launch, to a great 

 extent, and keep pushing her through the sudd till 

 the water was up to our shoulders. Three miles further 

 on was another belt which took us only an hour and 

 a quarter to pass. 



The banks were often as much as nine feet above 

 us. In one place a huge gemeiza tree overhung the 

 river. In another bushes grew close to the water. 

 They were alive with birds, mostly egrets. I shot 

 one with my rifle, and the sailor, a youth on board, 

 dived over to get it. There were a few yards of thin 

 sudd between us and it. He had just stretched out 

 to grasp the bird w'hen he disappeared ; a crocodile 

 had seized him ! I emptied my magazine either side 



