DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 463 
one evening Dr. Mearns saw some guinea-fowl go to roost 
in a bush in which two kites had already settled them¬ 
selves for the night, the kites and the guineas perching 
amiably side by side. 
We stopped at the mouth of the Sobat to visit the 
American Mission, and were most warmly and hospitably 
received by the missionaries, and were genuinely impressed 
by the faithful work they are doing, under such great 
difficulties and with such cheerfulness and courage. The 
Medical Mission was especially interesting. It formed an 
important part of the mission work; and not only were 
the natives round about treated, but those from far away 
also came in numbers. At the time of our visit there were 
about thirty patients, taking courses of treatment, who 
had come from distances varying from twenty-five miles 
to a hundred and fifty. 
We steamed steadily down the Nile. Where the great 
river bent to the east we would sit in the shade on the for¬ 
ward deck during the late afternoon and look down the 
long glistening water-street in front of us, with its fringe 
of reedbed and marshy grassland and papyrus swamp, and 
the slightly higher dry land on which grew acacias and 
scattered palms. Along the river banks and inland were 
villages of Shilluks and other tribes, mostly cattle owners; 
some showing slight traces of improvement, others utter 
savages, tall, naked men, bearing bows and arrows. 
Our Egyptian and Nubian crew recalled to my mind 
the crew of the dahabiah on which as a boy I had gone 
up the Egyptian Nile thirty-seven years before; especially 
when some piece of work was being done by the crew as 
they chanted in grunting chorus ‘‘Ya allah, ul allah.” 
