VOYAGE UP WHITE NILE 
65 
—that is, in the dry season—the “khors” are simply 
broad stagnant ditches, from a foot or so to . . . I know 
not what maximum depth. Traversing blind cane-jungles 
8 or 10 feet high, neither their depth nor extent can be 
foreseen. You first realise the presence of a “khor ” by 
finding yourself sinking in bog : you may push ahead and 
get through the first 
easily; the next is knee- 
deep ; a third comes. 
The canes, meeting 
overhead, are here 
taller and stronger; the 
mephitic morass is 
waist-deep, yet there is 
no indication of its 
ending. A criss-cross 
of fallen canes, both 
above and below the 
surface, arrests every 
step. An elephant or 
a buffalo passes such 
places with ease; an 
average man cannot. 
Personally 1 retire when 
the morass reaches 
much over my knees. 
This morning (Jan¬ 
uary 28th) we won Pied Kingfisher. 
through, despite the 
darkness before dawn. Then in the gloom appeared 
two savages, great stalwart blacks, practically naked, 
and each bearing a spear with a head like a coal-shovel— 
I afterwards measured one of these murderous lance- 
heads, 15 by si inches. The strangers seemed friendly 
and joined us uninvited. Abdul whispered “ Bad Arab—- 
Baggara ” ; but whatever sentiments may have occupied 
my own mind-—-whether of suspicion, doubt, or resen t- 
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