94 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



dresses to perfection. The Lango women are the finest and most symmetrical in 

 the whole region of the equatorial lakes. They wear little clothing beyond waist- 

 bands, necklaces, armlets, and rings. 



South of the Nile is found another ethnological group, formed by the Wa-Tchopi 

 or Shef alu, in speech and appearance resembling the Shilluks, whose proper domain 

 lies some six hundred miles farther north. According to the national traditions, 

 the Shef alu are descended from a conquering people, who came originally from that 

 direction. 



Masindi, on a river flowing to Lake Albert, was the residence of the king of 

 T7-Nyoro when the country was first visited by Speke, Grant, and Baker. But in 

 1877 it was replaced by Nyamoga, which is also conveniently situated in the centre 

 of the region enclosed between the lake and the great bend described by the Nile 

 below M'ruli. The latter place, which occupies an important strategic and com- 

 mercial position on the Nile at the converging point of the caravan route from 

 TJ-Ganda, has ceased to be the advanced southern outpost of the Egyptians. Even 

 before the Mussulman revolt in Dar-For the troops had been withdrawn from M'ruli 

 and from Kirota, which lies in a forest clearing farther north-west. The western 

 bulwark of the Khedive's possessions is, or was till vecentlj, Foiceira (^Fawera, 

 Fauvera, Faveira), whose site has been shifted to a cliff on the east bank of the 

 Nile near the Kubuli confluence, and not far from the point where the river trends 

 westward to Lake Albert. North of the river stands another fortified station near 

 the Karuma rapids, and north of Panyatoli, residence of one of the most powerful 

 Wa-Nyoro chiefs. A third Egyptian fortress in U-Nyoro is Magunyo, on the 

 right bank of the Nile, where its sluggish current joins Lake Albert. Being 

 enclosed by a ditch ten feet broad, this place is impregnable to the badly armed 

 and undisciplined troops of the Lango or Wa-Nyoro chiefs. East of Magungo 

 steamers ascend the river as far as the wooded gorges of the Murchison Falls. 



Mahaghi (Mahahi), another fortified station, has been formed by the Egyptians 

 on the west side of Lake Albert, where it is sheltered by a headland from the 

 northern winds. The whole of this coast region, which takes the name of Lur, is 

 inhabited by Negro tribes akin to those of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and speaking a 

 lanffuaffe which differs little from that of the Shuli east of the Nile. In habits 

 they resemble the Wa-Nyoro, with whom they formerly maintained constant 

 commercial relations, and whose suzerainty they recognise ; without, however, 

 paying any tribute to the king. South-west of the Egyptian station are some hot 

 springs, sulphurous, like all hitherto discovered in the Upper Nile regions. A 

 considerable traffic is carried on by water between both sides of the lake, especially 

 with the ports of M'bakovia ( Vacovici) and Kibero, where salt is yielded in abundance 

 by the surrounding argillaceous clays. 



