ENTER THE BELI COUNTRY. 345 



corn-fields, in which were situated the curious pile-dwellings 

 of the Dinka. Balearic cranes were very numerous here, as 

 also the bulbul (Pycnonotus niloticus), whose flute-like song I 

 always like to hear. The corn was still ripening ; the process 

 occupies eight full months. The dokhn, however, was just being 

 reaped. Numerous baskets for fowls lay about everywhere, 

 for now all over the Dinka country the breeding of fowls 

 flourishes, as the people can always find a ready market for 

 them at the stations. The Dinka consider it so objectionable to 

 eat fowls or eggs, that whoever did so would go courting in vain. 

 Alel Kuimba (the Kuimba's smelting furnace) is situated at 

 the edge of the swamp, and is a much- frequented camping- 

 place. Many fish belonging to the genus Clarias were found 

 in the swamp. 



A good hour's march led us through corn-fields wet with 

 dew to the boundary of the Dinka district, the last village of 

 which, Jombi, belongs to the Ayell district of Gok, and was 

 passed not far from Kuimba's. We left here the grey sticky 

 loam of the lowlands and entered upon the red ferruginous clay 

 which covers the Beli district of the Mittu tribe. The unin- 

 habited borderland, Loba, consists of a wide grass steppe, and 

 is frequented as a common hunting-ground . I noticed here a 

 great ironstone ledge, which formed a kind of step in the midst 

 of a plain ; at its foot several Amomums were growing, the 

 only ones which I have seen in this district. A large pool of 

 water called Debber was covered with geese, which provided 

 us with welcome food, as for many days we had passed 

 through a devastated country where meat was unobtainable. 

 From this point the soil was rather drier ; it presented a perfect 

 sea of grass. We passed by a deserted iron-smelting place, 

 where we saw the remains of its neatly constructed furnaces. 

 We next reached Khor Lila, in the district of Mer. This 

 swampy Ichor is completely shut in by vegetation ; it contains 

 water throughout the whole year, and is said to be identical 

 with Khor Gulmar, upon which we camped when travelling 

 from Rumbek to Jot. From midnight there had been thunder 

 and lightning, but fortunately the rain kept off until the early 

 morning, when all our goods were packed for the march. We 

 then resumed our journey, marching almost parallel to the 



