The New British Empire of the Sudan 263 



One Thousand Miles up the Nile from Khartum 



vast lake hidden under vegetation, is 

 entered. 



So .much has been written and read 

 about the swamp and the sudd of the 

 Nile, which have for years together 

 blocked navigation, that it may be super- 

 fluous to attempt another word ; yet, like 

 some other things of this life, these must 

 be seen to be appreciated. Almost be- 

 fore one is aware of it the steamer enters 

 a lane, hardly more than wide enough to 

 admit it, lined on both sides with papy- 

 rus as high as the after deck and among 

 which the water may be seen moving 

 sluggishly. On the hurricane deck the 

 view is more extensive, but without in- 

 terruption or mitigation. In every di- 

 rection as far as the eye can see stretches 

 a boundless level expanse of green, so 

 dense and solid that any casual breeze 

 makes no motion, and unbroken by tree, 



dry land, or any other thing to vary the 

 deadly monotony. Compared with this 

 dead sea of green, the open ocean, far out 

 of sight and land, is action, companion- 

 ship, and inspiration. As the steamer 

 passes along the zigzag channel, all signs 

 of life — birds, insects (except the deadly 

 mosquito), and every other moving 

 thing — are left behind, and only the color 

 of the papyrus prevents one from saying 

 and writing "the abomination of desola- 

 tion." The papyrus, which has practi- 

 cally exterminated all other vegetable 

 growth in the swamp, lays claim to more 

 literary distinction than it deserves, 

 though it is by no means an ungraceful 

 plant. Any one who recalls the common 

 broom corn of the Connecticut and Mo- 

 hawk valleys and the Illinois prairies may 

 get a very good idea of the papyrus if he 

 will simply imagine the stalk triangular 



