326 
VEGETATION ON THE BANKS OP THE WHITE NILE. 
and may be very nutritious ; but I was not 
inclined to become a Lotophngus, and would 
rather eat potatoes, skins and all. Although 
there are a number of tuberous plants in these 
regions, which the natives use for food, the 
potato would not flourish here, any more than 
in the far colder Egypt, where it becomes 
watery, from the length of time the water 
remains on it." 
Floating islands abound on this part of the 
river. The base is formed by a pale velvet- 
plant, which spreads itself in auricle-like lobes, 
has fibrous roots to intertwine with the reeds, 
but never blooms. [Apparently a Pistia.'] 
A kind of water couch-grass serves also to 
bind together the mass of vegetation, with a 
stalky, mossy plant, which spreads itself over 
the water, and shoots forth slender white 
suckers, like polypi, and over this a kind of 
convolvulus, with lilac-coloured flowers, and 
leaves like those of the butter-cup, grows in 
profusion, mingled with the blooming lotus, 
amid which various parasitical plants twine 
their slender creepers, so as to form a compact 
island of vegetation. The spectacle presented 
by one of these fields of flowers, floating on 
the surface of the water, and extending for 
miles together, surpasses in singularity and 
beauty anything that can be imagined. From 
the tall dark mimosas on the shore, down to 
the waving reeds, and the spikes of the high 
grass shooting above the surface, a vegetable 
life spreads with an exuberance absolutely 
marvellous. The splendid leaf-like webs of the 
Manias form hillocks and garlands of flowers, 
and, with their variegated bright colours, shine 
in the distance like magnificent tapestry hung 
over the more sober foliage of the forest, 
amongst which, however, the blooming A m- 
bak tree, with its abundance of large flowers 
and acacia-like leaves, lifts its gay head in 
striking contrast. 
The Ambak, which is sometimes found in 
thickets, was known to the ancient Egyptians. 
Its stems were doubtless employed as writing 
materials, in the same manner as the stalk of 
the gigantic reed {Papyrus antiquorurn) which 
is so abundant in the White Nile. [The Arabs 
call it Ambak, but they are only acquainted 
with the dry, light wood which floats down 
to them. The tree grows only either in the 
water or in the mud, and dies down to the roots 
after the water leaves it. Its growth is more 
rapid than the rising of the Nile; and it shoots 
ten or fifteen feet above the highest level of 
the water. It rises somewhat conically out of 
the water, but is smaller again towards the 
root; and in the middle is about the thickness 
of a man's arm. The wood is spongy, and can 
only be called a fibrous pith enclosed in a bark, 
which is dark green, covered with a rough 
brownish growth, and little, inconspicuous, 
curved thorns. The branches are divested to 
the summit, and are wholly green and rough. 
The acacia-like leaves are in pairs, succulent, 
and green as a rush. The yellow, bean-like 
flowers, solitary, but very numerous.] 
Indeed the edge of the river's bank was 
wrapped in flowery vegetation, so rank in its 
luxuriance, so exuberant, so lavishly thrown 
upon the surface, that it seemed as though 
nature had flung her gifts there with a partial 
hand ; thus compensating the people, in a 
measure, for their small share in the advan- 
tages which other and less beautiful regions 
bestow upon their inhabitants. Nor were all 
these crowded together in particular places. 
The river, from its confluence with the Blue 
Stream, as far as the Mountains of the Moon, 
presents, with few exceptions, the same rich 
spectacle which compensated, in the eyes of 
the travellers, for the otherwise monotonous 
landscapes which they saw in ascending the 
White Stream. 
As we have before observed, our limited 
scientific knowledge of the vegetation on the 
banks of the White Nile precludes a botanical 
description of any of the plants there to be 
found. Our object must be to afford an idea of 
the richness and variety of that vegetation, in 
order that a knowledge of this fact may induce 
some enterprising traveller, whose studies have 
fitted him for the task, to push his researches 
up that mysterious river, to examine the 
hitherto unnumbered shrubs and plants which 
there flourish unknown to those who feel the 
deepest interest in such subjects. When that 
is accomplished, it will be interesting to com- 
pare the descriptions of the botanical explorer 
with the statements of the unscientific man 
who repeats in his narrative the impressions 
produced on his mind, but cannot embody his 
description in the technical language employed 
in this as in all other branches of science. 
The bright flowers of the poison-tree were 
often visible on the shore. There are species, 
both Euphorbias, with blue and red blossoms. 
The deadly exudation with which the native 
arrows are poisoned, proceeds from the bruised 
stems ; an intoxicating milk gushes from the 
leaves, and is infused into bowls of meressa, 
a kind of spirituous liquor consumed in great 
quantities in these countries. One of the poison 
plants attains the size of a tree ; the other 
species, seldom the height of a bush. They 
are singular in appearance, and easily distin- 
guished from other trees by their curious 
shape. 
The red and blue convolvulus is found in 
much abundance in nearly all parts of the 
river, as well as two species of wild cucumbers, 
one of which has a large and deep yellow 
flower, whilst the other bears a blossom 
of somewhat the same colour, but smaller. 
