358 BEDEN TO KAKUlK. 



9. From Bed^n, on the White Nile, through Fajelu to 



Kakuak. 



A WASTED COUNTRY — FAJELU — GUMBIRI — KAKUAK AND ITS MOUNTAINS — 

 THE WATERSHED OF THE YEI — GANDA — TRIBAL DIVISIONS OF THE MADI 

 — AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS. 



We left the station of Beden on the 9th of October, and climbed 

 the hills which border the western banks of the river. A 

 broad rolling steppe lay before us, the few existing trees being 

 almost hidden amongst the yellow grass of the undulating 

 fields. Blocks of rock and gneiss and quartz rubble were scat- 

 tered in all directions, especially near the innumerable rain- 

 channels which furrowed the country, and which at this season 

 of the year were almost empty. Numerous euphorbia hedges, 

 always used for the Bari cattle zeribas, were also to be seen, 

 proving that this district was once well peopled. Smallpox 

 and famine, caused by failure of the crops and continuous raids 

 which swept off the enormous cattle herds, have changed this 

 country from a garden to a desert. It is evident that this 

 steppe might be used for agricultural purposes, as well as for 

 pasturage, to judge by the luxuriant growth of durrah, dokhn, 

 hibiscus, and tobacco which surrounded the few Bari home- 

 steads we saw on our way. After passing a gneiss hill, Zindiru, 

 the trees became rather more numerous. Steppe-woods formed 

 of figs, tamarinds, butter-trees, acacias, Balanites, Zizyphus, and 

 the very common Diospyros mespiliformis intermingled with the 

 sea of grass. A species of Boswellia forms a distinctive feature 

 of this region ; its foliage, as seen from a distance, has a 

 reddish hue. It provides a quantity of sweet-smelling gum, 

 which the Arabs use as incense, and its stems are much valued 

 for hedges, as it is very tenacious and soon takes root and 

 blooms afresh. 



The village of Mogedo, where we camped for the night, is a 

 rather large collection of huts, differing in no way from the 

 usual Bari villages. Chief Rombe promised to provide us 

 with porters early next morning, but whether due to the Bari's 

 intense dislike of the duties of porters, or to the fact of this 



