THE SOFI. 327 



grass. The women are very ugly, and disfigure their lips by 

 the insertion of wooden discs or cones of quartz. Very deli- 

 cately made iron chains are much worn, and a curious product 

 of this country is seen in the pipe-bowls made out of red clay 

 in exact imitation of Egyptian patterns, which have been in- 

 troduced here from Khartum. A yellow clay found here is 

 eaten ; it is said to aid the digestion of fish, and also to take 

 away the smell of fish from the hands. The Dinka use the 

 strongly aromatic leaves and flowers of the Hyjotis spicigera 

 for this latter purpose. 



A damp grass steppe, strewn with many masses of gneiss, 

 between which doleb bushes grow, led by a gentle fall from 

 Mvolo to the river; after the rapids the latter passes into the 

 lower plain, to which the cataracts serve as steps. Whilst near 

 the station the Yalo flows due north, at the ford we crossed it 

 makes a bend to the west-north-west, and there it was one 

 hundred and thirty-four feet broad and thirty inches deep. 

 The bed was sandy, and bordered on each side by enormous 

 growths of grass. To the left of the road we followed after 

 fording the river, we came upon many old channels, which 

 were frequented by hippopotami, whilst herons and Sarcio- 

 phori were busily engaged in catching worms on the muddy 

 bauks. Amongst the dokhn-fields and steppe- wood, in which 

 patches of red sand were strewn with gneiss rubble, there 

 were frequent strips of swamp nearly always formed by small 

 khors, which were very difficult to cross. The whole of this 

 small district, which is named Dugwara, or Diigbara, belongs 

 to Chief Agai. His village was just being removed farther 

 to the south. A group of Anogeissus and Solanaceas, in the 

 middle of the savannah which adjoins this village, marks the 

 place where the village of Ruku was once situated. We were 

 joined here by the two sons of the late chief, A-uri, armed 

 with large wooden clubs and broad-bladed buffalo spears ; they 

 had full beards and very beautifully made iron bracelets. It 

 is curious that all the people here chew tobacco. 



At. Ruku we entered into the Sofi district, where the lan- 

 guage differs considerably from the Lesi idiom, but is identical 

 with the language spoken in Beli, to which I shall subsequently 

 refer. The country had here a very wintry aspect ; in mauy 



