Page:The empire and the century.djvu/829

 miles from high land to high land. Through and across this dreary expanse of swamp the river wanders, at times approaching one bank and then again the other. It rarely touches either, but crosses the marshes backwards and forwards in an exasperating succession of loops and twists. On both sides of the valley the dry land is marked by a belt of thorny bush, varying in width from a few hundred yards to several miles. Beyond this bush immense flat plains extend, covered with high class and scattered patches of forest These plains are intersected by shallow depressions, swamps during the rainy season, but connected one with another by reedy channels, which drain slowly into the Nile as it falls.

In this length of river the European stations of Mongalla, Lado, and Kivu—the last two Belgian—are situated. None of these places can be described as health resorts. Miserable as the general aspect of this portion of the Nile Valley is, there is worse to come. At 718 miles from Lake Victoria the Bahr-el-Zaraf, or Giraffe River, branches off from the main stream through the swamps to the east, and the Bahr-el-Gebel enters that dreadful tract known as the 'sudd' country. The word 'sudd' in the Arabic language means a barrier, and this name is now applied to the entire area in which the river is liable to be blocked by the water-weeds which break into its channel from the illimitable marshes through which it strives to force a tortuous passage. Throughout its entire length through the 'sudd' the Bahr-el-Gebel has no banks at all, and its water surface is flush with that of the swamps on either side.

It is difficult in words to give a fair conception of the general appearance of the 'sudd' country. Its utter desolation baffles any attempt at description. Even the most arid desert seems a desirable spot by comparison with this horrible morass. Its confines once entered, all trace of high land shortly disappears, and a dead-flat horizon meets the view in every direction—