318 BITI TO BUFI. 



perfect thickets were formed by a species of Zizyphus with 

 inedible fruits (called by the Dinka langa-konn, i.e., elephant- 

 zizyphus), together with Randia, which is known as kar. 



After a good three hours' march, we halted on one of the 

 rocky ridges just mentioned, from which I managed to take 

 some compass bearings. In some small water-puddles lying 

 in rocky hollows I saw flowering water-lilies, which, not 

 requiring much moisture, are apparently capable of surviving 

 a period of drought. Their seed, called beshinin in Egypt, and 

 sitteb in the Sudan, is converted into flour. 



The scenery undergoes a change here, for a real grass steppe, 

 with isolated trees, replaces the woods, and the sandy soil 

 favours the growth of euphorbia. Rocky domes and ridges 

 abound here likewise, and from one of the summits we saw Jebel 

 Yere in front of us. It was rather higher than the surrounding 

 domes, near one of which we were to camp for the night. Khor 

 Kokobere, containing a good quantity of water, flowed along 

 its base, bounded by masses of gneiss. Jebel Yere presents a 

 flat back, and yields a splendid view over rolling, well-wooded, 

 and, to judge by the numerous pillars of smoke, well-populated 

 country. Towards the north and east no elevation could be seen ; 

 in the west it rained, but in the south and south-west many 

 peaks and mountains that I had previously noticed and marked 

 down were visible. The broad river, now seen for the first 

 time in front of us, is about a quarter or half an hour from the 

 mountain, and flows from south-west to north-north-east. 



Jebel Yere is famous on account of its large caverns, in 

 which the natives took refuge, with their herds and corn, when 

 their country was occupied, and where they for a very long 

 time resisted their conquerors. In one of the caverns there is 

 said to be a very deep fissure, which reaches down to the water, 

 and anything which falls down it comes out again by the river. 

 An investigation of the caverns showed that the entrances had 

 been very carefully blocked up with stones and thorns, to pre- 

 vent the entrance of wild animals. I found an Entada, called 

 kanghd by the natives, growing here abundantly on the rocks ; 

 it is eaten with relish after being peeled in hot water. 



A second broad belt of gneiss reefs and ridges, from which 

 large slabs may be lifted, extends beyond Jebel Yere. The 



