THE BEND OF THE NILE. 
315 
from our feet to the horizon, where the low hills 
of Grani were visible twenty or thirty miles off in the 
far distance. It was a cheering sight, for there we 
expected to come upon civilisation. My field-book, 
dated 27th March 1862, at this point notes : "From 
a red-clay ant-heap saw the Gani hills to the north. 
Country to the right a plain of withered waving grass, 
without trees. The same kind of country lay to the 
west, in the direction of the river." This note I look 
upon as important, for it may be held to be a proof 
that the chord of the arc to the bend of the Nile, 
which we actually followed, was a plain, offering no 
hilly obstacle to the flow of the Nile from the point 
where we ferried, till reaching it again ninety miles 
farther north. Marching through this tall grass was 
harassing and monotonous ; the tread-mill could hardly 
be worse. If you held up your head to look for trees, 
none were to be seen. If you looked for the man who 
walked in front of you, he was generally hidden. If 
you walked in your ordinary manner, without stoop- 
ing, the sharp grasses went into your eyes and nose, 
blinding you for a moment, or drawing blood ; and if 
you did not keep your eyes and ears open, and take 
the warning of the hole, rock, or log ahead, you hurt 
your limbs, or tripped and stumbled in the most vexa- 
tious manner. Several times we lost our way, but 
little Luendo would good-naturedly jump upon an 
ant-mound, take his bearings, and put us right again. 
In going through bogs he was most careful in taking 
off his sandals, which he slung upon his wrist ; the 
Wagani, whose only covering was the skin of a kid 
in front, also took this precaution. As the journey 
was nearly at an end, and a prospect before us of 
