8 MR. J. S. BUDGETT ON [Jan. 20, 
natives make very good traps of papyrus-grass, and also hunt the 
hippopotamus with long spears with a rope and float of ambatich- 
wood attached. Amongst other fishes caught here were Mor- 
myrops, Mormyrus, Hyperopisus, and Malapterurus. 
Much of this way the hills retreat, and there is nothing seen 
but grass floating and grass stationary, not even bird-life to 
relieve the monotony. The last 20 miles, however, before reaching 
the garrison town of Nimule it is very different. The Nile flows 
straight towards the mountains above Nimule, and here widens 
into beautiful lagoons covered with water-lilies, in the foreground 
sheets of Pistia of the most vivid green, in the background bold 
wooded hills. Here and there are rocky islands with schools of 
hippopotami basking in the sun; Bee-eaters (Melittophagus 
pusillus), the Jacana (Parra africana), and the gorgeous little 
Kingfishers (Corythornis cyanostygma) abound. And then the 
Nile plunges into the great Nimule gorge, to tumble down 
cataract after cataraet, breaking up and pulverizing the floating 
vegetation, and issuing again at Fort Berkley free from sud. 
I was now getting anxious about catching the Sudan Govern- 
ment steamer, which comes up once a month to Gondokoro, and 
determined to leave the Nile and go straight overland for 
Gondokoro. The actual distance was little over 100 miles, but at 
this time of year the difficulties of travelling and crossing over 
rivers in flood were such that one could not tell at all how long 
the journey would take. After passing through the Nimule 
gorge, we came to the affluence of the Assua with the Nile. The 
Assua was now in flood, the only way of crossing being by means 
of small rafts of ambatch-wood equal to taking one load at a time. 
None of my porters were able to swim, and all had likewise to be 
crossed on the rafts. After very nearly losing two men down 
the rapids, the crossing was completed after eleven hours’ hard 
work. Here, again, the bird-life was different. I saw many birds 
while on the march that I was unable to identify. There were 
great numbers of a Weaver-bird of brownish colour with a white 
crown, building innumerable star-like nests made of straight wiry 
grasses woven in at a tangent to the nest. There were also seen 
in these parts, for the first time, Scoptelus notatus and Crypto- 
rhina afra, though amongst these were not seen specimens with 
red beaks as was the case on the Gambia. 
Just below its confluence with the Assua River the Nile flows on 
two sides of a high hill; a fact which strikes one as remarkable, 
for the two branches were mountain-torrents of very little depth 
of water. 
There we left the river, and passed through country with many 
villages and a good deal of cultivation, especially ground-nuts and 
millet. The aspect of this country of the Madis struck me as 
remarkably similar to that of the Gambia: the soil was rich and 
sandy, and the nuts produced were of great size. In some of the 
valleys we saw quantities of very fine bamboo, while many of the 
trees were almost smothered by the beautiful creeping lily 
Gloriosa superba. 
