396 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
from fever, from the assaults of warlike native tribes, from 
their conflicts with their giant quarry; and the unending 
strain on their health and strength is tremendous. 
At noon the following day we stopped at the deserted 
station of Wadelai, still in British territory. There have 
been outposts of white mastery on the Upper Nile for many 
years, but some of them are now abandoned, for as yet 
there has been no successful attempt at such develop¬ 
ment of the region as would alone mean permanency of 
occupation. The natives whom we saw offered a sharp 
contrast to those of Uganda; we were again back among 
wild savages. Near the landing at Wadelai was a group of 
thatched huts surrounded by a fence; there were small 
fields of mealies and beans, cultivated by the women, 
and a few cattle and goats; while big wickerwork fish- 
traps showed that the river also offered a means of liveli¬ 
hood. Both men and women were practically naked; 
some of the women entirely so except for a few beads. 
Here we were joined by an elephant hunter, Quentin Gro¬ 
gan, who was to show us the haunts of the great square 
mouthed rhinoceros, the so-called white rhinoceros, of the 
Lado, the only kind of African heavy game which we 
had not yet obtained. We were allowed to hunt in the 
Lado, owing to the considerate courtesy of the Belgian 
Government, for which I was sincerely grateful. 
After leaving Wadelai we again went downstream. The 
river flowed through immense beds of papyrus. Beyond 
these on either side were rolling plains gradually rising 
in the distance into hills or low mountains. The plains 
were covered with high grass, dry and withered; and the 
smoke here and there showed that the natives, according 
