THE SUDD 
263 
specialised man can only progress—if at all—by parlous 
labour, making good yard by yard, any pursuit of 
the situtunga is humanly impossible. The animal, 
moreover, is strictly nocturnal in habit, and it is by 
the merest chance that an odd individual is occasionally 
sighted at dusk or dawn. Never one did I detect 
myself. (See sketch of Situtunga’s hoofs at p. 152.) 
Up to the present, the Sudd as a whole has never been 
explored by trained field-naturalist; nor, at the moment 
(January, 1915), does such an undertaking appear likely. 
Scientific research has been brought to a standstill before 
by such vermin as Mad Mullahs and Mahdis. These, 
however, were mere fanatics plunged in abysmal ignorance; 
this time . . .! Whether the intricate recesses of the 
Sudd shelter fresh forms of beast and bird, fish and 
reptile, may not be known. Some day, in happier 
years, the investigation will be undertaken. Such enter¬ 
prise will, however, require a very special outfit—alike 
in men and material, especially should the rainy season 
be included — and that is the epoch which promises 
by far the best results. For practically nothing is yet 
known, zoologically speaking, of the summer season in 
the Sudan, not even on its drier plains. How much 
more would the difficulty be accentuated in the submerged 
Sudd? 
A summer season spent in the Sudd—what time its 
sodden breath is poisoned by malaria and reeks with 
mosquitoes in millions — represents a test of physical 
fitness and endurance not lightly to be considered. 
Keenness and enthusiasm will never lack;-but constitu¬ 
tions toughened to that sticking-point are ever less 
abundant. 
Our own experience in the Sudd was limited to the 
outermost fringes of the unknown—we merely “nibbled” 
it—and that only in winter. Still there are no keener field- 
naturalists, nor men better qualified for such work, than 
my two companions of 1913-14. Nothing discouraged 
