CHAPTER XXI 
BEYOND THE SUDD 
(i) A Stronghold of the African Elephant 
The 150 miles that lie beyond the Sudd—(say from 
Bohr to Rejaf, where Nile-navigation ends) — consist 
partly of grass-prairies, partly of tropical forest, but 
both often set back from the river by belts of intervening 
marsh. The main feature, however, is that here—after 
more than 1000 miles of dead-flat plain—we enter a 
region where rocks, crags, and mountains once more 
rejoice unwonted eyes. Not since passing the insignificant 
koppies of Jebelein and Jebel Ahmed Agha (now left 
800 miles behind) have we encountered a rock nor even 
a pebble. Here, at last, the tiresome monotony of level 
contours gives place, first to low rolling ridges, gradually 
developing into actual hills, till at Lado and Gondokoro 
great mountain-ranges converge on Nile. This 150-mile 
stretch represents to-day one of the remaining strongholds 
of the African elephant. Nowhere else in the Dark 
Continent do these pachyderms exist in such abundance 
as may still be seen along the course of Mountain-Nile. 
Now that Khartoum is linked up with London by 
steam—ocean-liners and “tropical trains’' all the way—■ 
while from Khartoum onwards the mail-steamers of the 
Sudan Government carry passengers right through to 
Uganda (a 1200-mile voyage), even the most timid of 
tourists may reckon upon seeing such spectacles as herds 
of wild elephants, and that within some three weeks from 
leaving Charing Cross! The journey can be made either 
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