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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



depth of 15 to 18 or 20 feet. Having 

 found the real river bed, the first thing 

 to do is to cut down or burn the top 

 growth, consisting mostly of papyrus. 



Having cleared the top of the sudd 

 "block," the men are landed with large 

 saws to cut along the true river bank, 

 which may be either submerged with a 

 few feet of water over it and papyrus 

 and sudd on it, or solid ground with ant 

 heaps, the solid ground never being of 

 any great extent and always surrounded 

 by' swamp. Cross and parallel cuts with 

 the saws are then made through the sudd, 

 dividing it into blocks of a convenient 

 size for the steamer to tear out, the size 

 of these blocks, of course, depending on 

 the consistency of the sudd and the 

 power of the steamer. 



Having cut the sudd into convenient 

 blocks, the bow of the steamer is run into 

 the block, a loop of steel hawser is placed 

 around it, when the rods of the cable are 

 passed over the bows of the steamer. 

 Here it is taken by the men on board and 

 placed in what is called the trench cut, 

 and held down with their feet. The 

 steamer then goes full speed astern, the 

 men all standing on the hawser to keep 

 it in position. In the case of tough sudd, 

 as many as twenty trials may have to be 

 made before the block of sudd eventually 

 tears away. 



When the block is torn out, the steamer 

 goes slowly astern till the mass is pulled 

 clear into the current, if there is one, 

 when it is cast adrift to float down- 

 stream, where it is gradually disin- 

 tegrated. If there is no current, it is 

 towed to a piece of open water, where as 

 a temporary measure it can be tied by 

 ropes to the bank, leaving a wide enough 

 channel for the steamer, and on the ap- 

 pearance of a current to be cut adrift to 

 float downstream. 



While the composition of the sudd is 

 usually the water papyrus, it is mixed 

 with what is called elephant grass — a 

 kind of bamboo growing to a height of 

 20 feet or more. To these climbs a 

 creeper of a kind of convolvulus. An- 

 other portion of the sudd consists of am- 

 batch and a long sword grass that cuts 

 like a knife. 



Strange as it may seem, the sudd in- 



terferes but little with the flow of the 

 river, and the Nile passes under it with 

 little resistance. This is because the 

 growth is principally near or on the sur- 

 face. As the river is over a mile wide 

 in some places and the deep channel may 

 be only a hundred feet, it is often hard 

 to tell where to find the channel to clear 

 it, as all of the water may be hidden. 



The density of the vegetation even in 

 deep water is remarkable. Again re- 

 ferring to the photographs, these show 

 how the men can walk over it without 

 sinking into the mass, such is its tenac- 

 ity and strength. Animals such as the 

 rhinoceros have been seen crossing 'the 

 Nile upon this great water carpet, which 

 is woven as deftly and strongly as by the 

 loom. 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 



LIEUT. SIR ERNEST H. SHACKLE-. 

 TON. who will spend April and May in 

 the United States lecturing, will address 

 the National Geographic Society March. 26. 

 President Taft will attend, and at the conclu- 

 sion of the lecture, on behalf of the National 

 Geographic Society, will present to Lieutenant 

 Shackleton the Hubbard Gold Medal of the 

 Society, which was awarded him some time 

 since for his important explorations in the 

 South Polar regions in 1908- 1909. 



March 4.— "A New Era for the South." Dr 

 Charles W. Stiles. The speaker will describe 

 the methods by which science and money hope 

 to eradicate the hookworm, or "lazygerm." 



March 11. — "The Waste of Human Life and 

 Resources in the Mining Industry." Mr Joseph 

 A. Holmes, of the U. S. Geological Survey. 

 Dr Holmes will tell of the Government's ef- 

 forts- to stem the tide of fatalities, in which 

 the United States leads the world at a ratio of 

 three to one, and the Government's effort to 

 devise ways of saving the great waste, not 

 only of human life, but of our coal, gas, and 

 other mineral resources. Illustrated. 



March 18. — "The Panama Canal." Colonel 

 George W. Goethals, Chief Engineer of the 

 Panama Canal. Illustrated. 



March 25.— "The Spirit of the West." Mr 

 C. J. Blanchard, of the U. S. Reclamation 

 Service. The wonderful agricultural develop- 

 ment of the West since the work of irrigation 

 was started by the Government and private 

 enterprise. Illustrated and moving pictures. 



March 26.— "Nearest the South Pole." Lieut. 

 E. H Shackleton. Illustrated. 



April I.— "Patagonia to Paraguay— or the 

 Story of Argentine." Mrs Harriet Chalmers 

 Adams. Illustrated. 



April 8.— "The Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon. 

 Dr Hugh M. Smith, Deputy Commissioner, 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. Illustrated. 



