112 NORTH-EAST AFEICA. 



customs are disappearing. Thus, amongst others, the Diur have ceased to spit upon 

 each other as a mark of affection ; and the " tree of death," to whose trunk the 

 heads of enemies were nailed, no longer stands at the side of each village. 



Topography. 



Diur Ghattas, the principal zeriba of the country, is well placed at the jimction 

 of the Bongo, Denka, and Diur territories, and in the intermediate zone between 

 the marshy plains and the hilly terraced lands, with their alternate woods and grassy 

 steppes. Sixty miles to the north-east, at the Diur and Momul confluence, sur- 

 rounded by a labyrinth of canals, and to the east of an immense forest, stands the 

 village and the group of depots called Meshra-er-Rek, or " Station of Rek." Here 

 begins the navigation of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and here is the starting-point for all 

 the caravans proceeding south, south-west, or west, into the region of the Upper 

 Nile tributaries. Before the war which cut off this region from Khartum, a steamer 

 ascended the Bahr-el-Ghazal periodically as far as Meshra-er-Rek. North-west of 

 Diur Ghattas, other zeribas follow in the Diur territory. Such are Kuchuk-Ali, 

 where Gessi gained a final victory over the slave-dealer Suleiman, and where are some 

 fine banana, lemon, and orange groves, planted by Schweinf urth ; and Wan, on the 

 left bank of the Diur, surrounded by extensive forests, which furnished the materials 

 for the flotilla in which Gessi sailed down the Diur to the port of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. 



The Sereh, Gold, and Krej Tribes. 



West of the Bongo are the Sereh and Golo, whose territories are both bounded 

 by the Ji or Pango tribe. The Sereh greatly resemble their neighbours the Niam- 

 Niam, to whom they were for some time subject. They are a well-built, stout, cleanly, 

 and industrious people. They are of a cheerful disposition, enduring fatigue, hunger, 

 and thirst without complaint. Of all Africans, they possess the fewest domestic 

 animals, rearing poultry alone in their villages. 



In general, the Golo resemble the Bongo in appearance and customs, although 

 speaking an entirely different language. Their round huts have very large eaves 

 supported on a circular row of posts, thus forming a complete verandah round the 

 dwelling. They erect exceedingly elegant granaries in the form of a vase resting on a 

 stool, and surmounted by a movable cover tapering to a point ornamented with plumes. 



West of the Golo dwell the Kredi or Krej, who wander in small bands in the 

 heart of the forests, and whom Schweinfurth describes as the most repulsive and 

 least intelligent Negroes he ever met. This region, however, which drains through 

 the Biri and other streams into the Bahr-el-Arab, is one of those where the popula- 

 tions have become most mixed, not by free crossings, but by promiscuous intercourse, 

 forced migrations, and the passage of troops and slave-dealers. The whole of Dar- 

 Fertit, a name usually applied by the Arabs to this part of the country, was recently 

 little more than a camp of slave-hunters. The affix Dera or Dwem, meaning " town," 

 joined to so many names of places, indicates the zeriba or fortified stations main- 



