CHAPTER XV. 
PASSAGE THROUGH THE BARI — POISONED STREAMS — GONDOKORO 
— MEETING WITH MR SAMUEL BAKER — MR AND MRS PETHE- 
RICK ARRIVE AT GONDOKORO — TRADE AND TRADERS — THE 
NILE AND MODE OF FERRYING IT — EMBARK IN BAKER'S 
BOATS FOR KHARTOOM. 
The Bari country was a series of gently swelling 
downs, sloping to the Nile a few miles to our left. 
The downs were covered with grass now ripe and 
only a foot high. During the bright mid-day sun, 
with a fresh, hot breeze, the grass, when set on fire, 
burns with alarming rapidity ; but in the darkness of 
night, when the air was still, it burned quietly but 
brilliantly, and we dined by its light : no theatrical 
footlights or exhibition of fireworks could compare 
with the brilliancy of the consuming flame. Densely 
foliaged tamarinds covered with ripe fruit, wild plum, 
sheabutter, and several other umbrageous trees scat- 
tered over the landscape, gave it the appearance of an 
English park, for here no palms nor other tropical 
genera w r ere to be seen. We had to step over num- 
bers of running rivulets whose channels and banks 
were generally of rock. In the rainy season these 
torrents must be difficult to cross, as they have all 
