THROUGH SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA TO THE SUDAN. 791 



ing', crying, dancing, and tiring tlieir gnns, all looking down the river. 

 There wh.s a .steamer in .sight, slowly approaching and tilling nearly half 

 the river bed. The Egyptian tlag wa.s ti\nng from the ma.st and two 

 Europeans stood at the l)ow\ The steamer stopped alongside our 

 camp and I welcomed the tirst of the P^uropeans in English, l)ut on 

 hearing my name he answered me in pure German. It was Sir Rudolf 

 Slatin,and the other gentleman Colonel Bluett, the mudir of Fashoda. 

 1 went on hoard and everything was soon explained. Slatin Pasha and 

 Colonel Bluett had come on a journey of inspection to Fort Nasser, on 

 the Sobat, and thence they had had to proceed to a village called Kara- 

 dong, on the Pibor, in order to settle some quarrels between two intlu- 

 ential Nuar chiefs. On arriving here they had heard that a European 

 was approaching with a large caravan and had decided to steam up the 

 river in order to bring me assistance if recpiired. They had found me 

 when 1 was just at the last extremit}'. Had I come two or three days 

 later I should have been forced to make my way to Nasser by land, 

 which would have been a ditficult task, considering the diseased state 

 of my nudes and the probable hostility' of the Nuar, who had formerly 

 been I'obbed by the Abyssinian raiders. There are still the ruins of a 

 large Abyssinian fort near the junction of the rivi'rs Akobo and Pibor. 

 As one of my Somal had the day l)efore shot a large bull girati'e, and 

 in}' men had therefore provisions for four days, Slatin Pasha was kind 

 enough to take me on board, w-ith all my men and my collections. 

 The surviving mules were given to the Nuar of Karadong. 



The n(\\t day the steamer passed the point where, on the map of this 

 region published by ]\lajor Austin in the (leographical Journal. 1!M)1, 

 the river (lelo joins the Pibor, )»ut it was ai)parent that tiie small river 

 Howing in here could not ])ringall the waters of the mighty river along 

 which 1 had marched for four weeks. TheGelo probal)ly di\ides after 

 having passed Lake Tata; the northern branch, wiiicii is possibly the 

 largest, running northward to the Baro, and the southern again divid- 

 ing into tw^o rivers, which How to the Pibor. 



Passing the small Egyptian fort Nasser and the famous Fashoda, 

 one of the sorriest-looking places in Africa, W(> steamed down to 

 Khartum. Broad green, fertile plains alternated with acacia-covered 

 scrub steppes. On the ])anks of the river we saw villages of the Nuar, 

 the Dinka, and the Shilluk, with their lai'ge rounded huts. P]very- 

 where we saw absolutely naked women and men, the latter mostly 

 painted white, boisterously greeting the steamer. Tiiere were large 

 herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, and in the Arab districts of the lower 

 White Nile, c;im(ds, horses, and donkeys. A picture of peace and 

 plenty is the Egy[)tian Sudan of to-day. We arrived at Khartum on 

 June 15, and I there enjoyed tluMliarmlng hospitality of the sirdar. 

 Sir Reginald Wingate, Here, also, 1 had tlu^ pleasure of again seeing 

 SM 1903 51 



