490 ARRIVE AT THE NILE DAM. [chap. xix. 
shoulder,—she fell dead to the shot, hut he went off 
scatheless. I now found that Richarn had loaded the 
gun with twenty mould shot instead of ball;—these 
were confined in a cartridge, and had killed her on the 
spot. 
I had thus bagged five antelopes; and cutting off 
the heads of the bucks we left the bodies for the 
natives, who were anxiously watching us from a 
distance, but afraid to approach. The antelope first 
shot that was nearer to the boat, we dragged on board, 
with the assistance of ten or twelve men. The buck 
was rather larger than an average donkey;—colour, 
black, with a white patch across the withers ;—a white 
crown to the head ; white round the eyes ; chest black, 
but belly white; the horns about two feet four inches 
long, and bending gracefully backwards. 
A few days after this incident we arrived at the 
junction of the Bahr el Gazal, and turning sharp to the 
east, we looked forward to arriving at the extraordinary 
obstruction that since our passage in 1863 had dammed 
the White Nile. 
There was considerable danger in the descent of the 
river upon nearing this peculiar dam, as the stream 
plunged below it by a subterranean channel with a 
rush like a cataract. A large diahbeah laden with ivory 
had been carried beneath the dam on her descent from 
G-ondokoro in the previous year, and had never been 
seen afterwards. I ordered the reis to have the anchor 
in readiness, and two powerful hawsers; should we 
arrive in the evening he was to secure the vessel to 
the bank, and not to attempt the passage through the 
canal until the following morning. 
We anchored about half a mile above the dam. 
This part of the Nile is boundless marsh, portions 
of which were at this season terra Jirma. The river 
ran from west to east; the south bank was actual 
ground covered with mimosas, but to the north and 
west the flat marsh covered with high reeds was inter¬ 
minable. 
