HIGH COUNTRY 283 



A very amusing experience is to listen to the views 

 of explorers on their predecessors in the same field. 

 We often heard them. Nothing is too bad. That 

 they have irritated the natives and abused their 

 hospitality, and so made the path of their suc- 

 cessors most difficult, is the least of the crimes they 

 charge them with. 



South of a line drawn from Gadein's to the bend 

 of the Jur, forty miles above Wau, is high and rocky. 

 North of it the country runs to swamp. Thirty miles 

 from Wau we passed a hill 500 feet high, and thence 

 we went over rather high country till we reached 

 the Jur at Wau. 



Not long after this patrol I left the province. My 

 turn for leave had come, and other work awaited 

 me on my return. 



The weather in the province was never excessively 

 hot. In the last week of January a little rain fell 

 round Wau. In April the river Jur generally had a 

 false rise, and again in May. In the middle of June 

 it rose in earnest, and remained navigable till October. 



The title " Sultan " is a misleading one. Among 

 the Dinkas it was given by outsiders to a few very 

 important headmen with whom they had come in 

 contact. Such was Atiok Chiok and Rob, but 

 Mayar, Doal, and Dow Marail were among the 

 names I heard as being equally important. In the 

 western district one has seen that, although un- 

 important, the idea of hereditary sovereignty was 

 maintained. But in the central district it was ludi- 

 crous to name the lord of two hundred men a Sultan. 



