Reconquest of the Water 
1902 was as follows: The first point is to discover the 
actual bed of the river, which is from 15 to 20 feet 
deep, and which can only be found by probing with 
long poles. Then the papyrus, grass stems, &c., are 
cut across, and when dry set on fire. Saws are used 
to cut through the sudd near the edges of the river, 
and cross cuts are made connecting them. Then the 
steamer’s bows are driven into one of these pieces or 
blocks round which a strong hawser is passed. The 
men stand on the ropes and the steamer goes astern, 
dragging out the block, which is taken down stream and 
let loose in the current, where it is eventually dashed to 
pieces on the rapids.“ 
The Negro savages which now inhabit these desolate 
marshes are hunting and fishing tribes. There is so little 
solid ground available that they cannot grow many crops: 
they migrate to the dry watersheds when the floods 
come on, and return with their cattle in the dry season. 
In both the Ganges and the Amazon river, floating 
grass-islands are by no means unusual. - There is a very 
remarkable similarity in the vegetation of all three rivers, 
and several of the floating plants are either identical or 
closely related forms. The grasses are, however, differ- 
ent, for in the Amazons it is species of Paspalum and 
Panicum which form the islands. Spruce measured 
one grass stem or rather rhizome 45 feet long and with 
seventy-eight “joints” on it, and with roots at each of 
them. Such grass-islands are uplifted from the muddy 
beds of the lakes, where they form great morasses, and 
torn off during the annual floods. 
In the great province ‘‘Hylaea” of the Amazons, the 
river-banks are submerged for miles together and re- 
main under water for months. The trees and shrubs 
of this flooded part are all peculiar species, quite differ- 
ent from the great forests which are never submerged. 
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