388 BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY — SIGNS OF CIVILISATION. 
rested for the night in the tall reeds of an island ; the 
wave of air caused by their motion and their twitter- 
ing reached us, though we could not see them in the 
darkness. 
We travelled without an accurate chart of the 
river, and the beautiful parts of it cannot therefore 
be mentioned by name ; but about 1 3° N. lat. five 
hills (" Jubl Denka," or "Jubl Nyamat'ee" of the 
maps) appeared three - quarters of a mile from the 
right bank. Some were ridged with vertical strata, 
and descended to the river ; but none appeared above 
water. From this point we may say that civilisation 
was fairly entered upon, for we were addressed in 
friendly Arabic from both banks. Boat-building went 
on in the forests of " soonud " or acacia, and hundreds 
of camel and cattle stood upon the receding banks of 
white sand, or drank the waters of the Nile. Women 
were clothed from head to foot, and carried water- 
pitchers on their heads — forming a peaceful and 
pleasing sight after the hardships and anxieties we 
had endured. The last trace of our jungle life was 
seen in the acacia forests, where trees lay prostrate, 
and where occasionally some antelope, new to us, 
with large horns bending over their shoulders, browsed 
on low bushes with the camel. A flight of wild 
geese, a host of monkeys, and a brood of guinea-fowl 
gave warning to the antelope, and none of them fell to 
our rifles. Domesticated animals now took the place 
of the denizens of the forest, and the trading-boats 
had driven away the wild inhabitants of the water. 
The sound of the hippopotamus was rare after we 
had passed the hills of Jubl Denka. Small grey duck 
no longer flew in line skimming the water ; and the 
