AN OLD RIVER-CHANNEL. 161 



people at once fled, and it cost us much trouble to pacify 

 them. When I requested their chief, a young man of about 

 eighteen, to guide me to the Jcho?\ he expressed his willingness, 

 on condition that I accompanied him unarmed. This I agreed 

 to, but unfortunately it had become too late for our expedition. 

 After walking for about a couple of miles through a tall grass 

 jungle, we saw, at about two miles distance, a swampy bed 

 about three-quarters of a mile to one mile broad, and over- 

 grown with plants, extending in a great curve from E.N.E. to 

 W.S.W. On either side of it were enormous barriers of 

 papyrus ; grasses and reeds covered it almost entirely, and 

 water was only visible here and there. The chief told me 

 that this watercourse ran far into the country, where at last it 

 could be forded. The impression that I received was, that it 

 was either an old river-bed or a dead arm of the Nile con- 

 verted into a swamp. The 4 Madi call it " Larogoi." We 

 returned to the steamer exactly as the sun set. The fields 

 here were all surrounded by straw hedges, to protect them 

 from wild animals. Elephants were said to be very numerous. 

 Very large fish were hanging upon frames to dry. After 

 steaming for rather more than a quarter of an hour we arrived 

 at Meshra-es-Seid, where, to give my people a rest, we re- 

 mained for the night. The next morning we reached Dufile 

 at 1 1 A.M., our voyage having been greatly delayed by a very 

 strong wind. 



I occupied my short stay at Dufile by compiling a vocabulary 

 of the Madi language, which is quite different from the other 

 languages spoken in this neighbourhood, but has a definite rela- 

 tionship to the Makraka language. There was not much to 

 collect, for the grass had been burnt down near the station. 

 There is, too, no forest here ; only a few solitary tall trees 

 exist. Chief Abu Nakhra, who lives to the west of the river, 

 gave me some interesting notes on the Madi tribe, and con- 

 firmed my opinion that Khor Larogoi was in very fact an old 

 river-channel. 



In .order to complete some previous itineraries, I took a new 

 route from Dufile to Fatiko and Fauvera, across Jebel Labilla, 

 which route I have mentioned elsewhere. Communications 

 had already been opened up between Fatiko and our new 



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