33o BUFI TO EUMBEK. 



liere ; no one aided us in the construction of our huts, nor 

 even provided us with water. I may mention, however, as 

 a partial excuse for the people, that water was very scarce 

 through the stretch of country we had just passed, that the 

 villages are usually situated at a considerable distance from 

 their water-supply, and this village, moreover, had only recently 

 been occupied. "We marched over sandy, reddish-brown soil, 

 covered with nodules of iron, in the direction of several large 

 rocks, which lie on a kind of open plateau free from all grass, 

 and where we saw the remains of the huts of former travellers. 

 Those of the inhabitants who speak Arabic call this locality 

 Hajr Abdu (the stone of Abdu), after a former official who was 

 stationed in Mvolo, but the natives call it Dolille Finnu. 



From this point the district inhabited by the Dinka tribe 

 Agar commences. At a distance of some ten minutes to the 

 side of the road there is a mound, entirely covered with frag- 

 ments of stone, above thirty feet high. Deep holes are dug 

 round its base, from which the natives obtain very brittle stone, 

 sometimes red arid sometimes white in colour, and greasy like 

 tallow. The powder made from the white stone is rubbed into 

 the skins that cover the big drums, and is also used to paint 

 the huts and the cheeks. The red stone, which is sometimes 

 almost purple, is mixed with the fat obtained from the butter- 

 tree, and then used for anointing the body. This hill is called 

 Dugfala (hole) by the Son and Lesi ; the Agar word vdn has the 

 same meaning. At the base of the hill, the difference between 

 the red soil which composes the hill and the light grey loamy 

 soil of the declivity is very sharply marked. A great number 

 of Agar had come to meet us here, in order to express their 

 joy that a Government had been installed, and that a new 

 and, we will hope, improved era had begun for this oppressed 

 country. A cumber of the common petunias were in flower 

 along the road ; they are here lilac-coloured, whereas to the 

 south they are usually white. Many really colossal trees give 

 a park-like character to this district. Unfortunately we saw, 

 too, the ruins of many villages which had been burnt down, 

 showing that this region had not escaped the devastations of 

 the slave-dealers. In the station of Ayak more than three 

 hundred slaves had just been sent away to their relations and 



