62 THE SOCIETY FOE THE PBESEEVATION OP 



we saw only one of the latter. Eoan, tiang, and waterbuck, 

 among the larger game, were in fair numbers. 



The steamers bound south and west have to travel several 

 leagues up this river to seek wood for fuel, and year by year this 

 diversion from the course has to be longer, as supplies are ex- 

 hausted. It is to be hoped that, under the altered conditions pro- 

 duced by the Atbara-Suakin Eailway, cheap fuel will save the 

 remnant of forest. 



Eeturning down stream of the Zeraf we found that it is not 

 very easy for a heavy sailing-boat to escape from a narrow 

 channel such as this in the teeth of a north, wind, but this generally 

 subsides towards sunset, when by abandoning the boat to the 

 current a few miles may be accomplished in the course of the 

 night. Prow or stern are continually driving into the reeds, and 

 the progress is less than a mile per hour. 



Here we first encountered the interesting tribe of Nuers. Marsh- 

 bred themselves, their lean and long bodies irresistibly suggest the 

 storks and herons by which they are surrounded, particularly when 

 they perch on one leg while the other is drawn up under the body, 

 the spare foot resting against the knee of the leg in use — a very 

 characteristic attitude, and not confined to this tribe. We had 

 been told that their reception of us was doubtful, and indeed their 

 manner is hesitating, arising from timidity, owing perhaps to the 

 treatment they have received from Turks and some Gentiles. 

 Their greeting is a forward wave of the hands, which, to an 

 Englishman, appears to deprecate approach, but is really the con- 

 trary. Wo had no difficulty in establishing friendly relations. 

 The first large party we met was a band of about thirty men and 

 women bound on an expedition to some point in the south. As 

 the women all bore largo baskets, it is probable that the object was 

 to fetch doura from their headquarters, to reach which they had 

 to cross the Zeraf river. How they proposed to effect the transit 

 was a mystery — probably by the floating power of ambatch fagots 

 gathered on the edge. We saved them much trouble by putting 

 them across on our upper deck, and to reach it they had to climb 

 a ladder. Some of them were nervous about this, never having 

 had to climb anything but a small tree, but once over they showed 

 their feelings of relief and gratitude by a prancing gavotte in our 

 honour. Some of the women, especially the younger ones, who 

 are generally clean-shaven, enhance their charms by a piece of 

 straight brass wire inserted through the upper lip. This projects 

 three or four inches, and is jerked up and down by the tongue in 

 a fascinating manner, but it would seem to make kissing difficult. 



The men are quite nude, well-formed, and immensely tall. In 

 any considerable group of them which gathered about mo I 

 generally found some who surpassed me in height by several 

 inches, and I stand 6 feet 2 inches in my stockings. They plaster 

 their hair with a thick covering of whitish mud, apparently com- 

 posed of wood ashes, and shaped like a Eoman helmet. When 

 this is removed, the hair combs out long and silky and is bleached 



