258 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
On the return-voyage, a month later, I looked with 
interest for my pet islet—it was gone! Nothing nowa¬ 
days escapes the vigilance of the navigation-patrols. 
It is only fair to the water-cabbage to add that it is 
not the sole criminal. Several other aquatic plants are 
capable of locomotion and aid in the general consolida¬ 
tion. So far as I saw, the water-cabbage chiefly came 
down the Bahr-el-Ghazal. It was um-soof (tiger-grass— 
literally “Mother of wool”) and even papyrus that 
formed most of the floating islets that drifted on the 
main stream of the Mountain-Nile. Ambatch also, 
being “water-rooted,” is adept at locomotion. 
The mouth of Mountain-Nile—and by the same token 
the gateway of the Sudd—lies within 200 yards of the 
marly islet whence emanate these notes. To-morrow at 
daybreak we propose to ascend it. 
African Cormorants and Jacana. 
(Sketched south of Tonga, Jan. 31st, 1913.) 
