354 
THE NILE AT 3° 47' N. LAT. 
nature of the ivory-traders. One of them, in getting 
upon his laden bullock, mounted so awkwardly, that 
he tilted the load over to one side, and the animal 
would not start with him. He belaboured it on the 
head with a loaded life-preserver, till the poor animal 
sat down. Immediately he dismounted, and in rage 
put a bullet through its head ; and the men around 
him cut off the hump and legs to carry with them as 
food, while the owner sat gloomily apart looking on : 
anything more revolting I never saw. Having forded 
the river we encamped in a village, the inhabitants fly- 
ing at our approach. We had been from sunrise to sun- 
set on the road, having passed several deserted villages 
and a jungle of thorny wood. The path along which 
we had travelled was on the top of vertical strata, point- 
ing to the north-west. It was of slaty blue rock, cleaved 
into loose squares and oblongs, with quartz veins. 
One morning I walked, along with three of our 
Seedees, due west for two hours, to have another look 
at the Nile. We tried to get guides from the villages, 
but after promising they generally slunk back into 
their huts. However, when approaching the river, 
past the dwellings, I induced a native to give me 
tobacco, when an escort of about forty men, well 
armed with bows, spears, and handfuls of arrows, 
accompanied me to the water s edge. For two miles 
the calm river ran in a straight reach, unbroken, as 
far as I remember, by rock or cataract. Its breadth 
appeared to be about eighty yards, and the current 
four miles an hour ; both banks were dead-level, and 
of stiff clay. Beyond these, rather barren hills rose 
abruptly. While sitting on the bank, my feet almost 
touched the water ; and the level ground was dotted 
