496 Hope. — The i Sacid ’ of the Upper Nile. 
Previous to 1863 both the Bahr-al-Jebel, or Kir, and its 
eastern branch, the Bahr-al-Zaraf, had been navigable, but in 
March of that year the Nile, below their junction with the 
waters coming in from the west and northward — thence 
northwards called the White Nile, or Bahr-al-Abiad — was 
found to be blocked by ‘ an accumulation of vegetable flotsam, 
and it cost the crew of the Tinne Expedition two days’ hard 
labour to take their vessel through a channel which had been 
partially cleared by their predecessors. The obstruction 
rapidly increased, and thirty vessels had to be employed for 
five weeks to open a permanent passage. Matters went from 
bad to worse, till, in 1874, Ismael Ayub Pasha cleared the 
main route by the White Nile and the Kir. But in 1878 
the White Nile rose to an unusual height, and enormous 
quantities of vegetable debris were carried off by the current. 
A formation of bars (blocks) on an unprecedented scale was 
the result, and communication between the Upper and Lower 
Nile was not restored until 1880.’ If the Kir and the White 
Nile, with their comparatively strong current, were thus 
obstructed, it was natural that the more sluggish Bahr-al- 
Ghazal should contain more extensive though less compact 
accumulations. ‘ In 1881 Gessi Pasha spent three and a half 
months on a part of the voyage westward usually performed 
in five hours, and lost half of his men by starvation. Between 
the mouths of the Kir and the Bahr-al-’Arab there were 
twenty distinct dams.’ 
The above information has been found in the ‘ Encyclopaedia 
Britannica ’ ; but— fully to realize what the Nile ‘ Sadd ’ is — it is 
necessary to read the Report by Sir William Garstin, K.C.M.G., 
as to Irrigation projects on the Upper Nile, &c., accompanying 
a despatch by Lord Cromer, His Majesty’s Agent and 
Consul General at Cairo, which was published as a Blue 
Book in July, 1901. In Part II of his Report, ‘Points for 
future Study/ we find a section ‘ The Sudd.’ (The spelling 
of this word is various in these papers, and the pronunciation 
consequently uncertain ; but it seems probable that ‘ Sudd ’ 
is a transliteration into English, and that the word ought to 
