chap, x.] THE ASUA 111 VEIL 277 
paces broad, and from the bed to the top of the per¬ 
pendicular banks was about fifteen feet. At this 
season it was almost dry, and a narrow channel of 
about six inches deep flowed through the centre of the 
otherwise exhausted river. The bed was much ob¬ 
structed by rocks, and the inclination was so rapid 
that I could readily conceive the impossibility of 
crossing it during the rains. It formed the great 
drain of the country, all its waters flowing to the Nile, 
but during the dry months it was most insignificant. 
The country between Farajoke and the Asua, although 
lovely, was very thinly populated, and the only villages 
that I saw were built upon low hills of bare granite, 
which lay in huge piles of disjointed fragments. 
On arrival at the river, while the men were wash¬ 
ing in the clear stream, I took a rifle and strolled 
along the margin; I shortly observed a herd of the 
MEHEDEHET ANTELOPE. 
beautiful Mehedehet antelopes feeding upon the rich 
but low grass of a sandbank in the very centre of the 
