I had long since determined to explore the sudd, or obstructions of the
main Nile, in the hope of discovering some new passage which the stream
might have forced through the vegetation. A Shillook, named Abdullah,
closely connected with Quat Kare, had promised to accompany me, and to
supply the necessary guides. The river was full - thus I started on 11th
August, 1870.
The engines of the No. 10 steamer had been thoroughly repaired during
our stay at Tewfikeeyah. I had loaded her to the maximum with well-cut
"Soont" (Acacia Arabicce), which is the best fuel; and knowing, by the
experience of former years, that a scarcity of wood existed near the
Bahr Gazal, I had loaded one of the largest vessels (about seventy tons)
with a supply, to accompany us as a tender. I had also filled my
diahbeeah with selected fuel.
We steamed thirteen hours from Tewfikeeyah, with the tender and
diahbeeah in tow, and reached the old sudd about twelve miles beyond the
Bahr Giraffe junction. The water below the sudd was quite clear from
floating vegetation, as it had been filtered through this extraordinary
obstruction.
I will not fatigue the reader by a description of this voyage. We were
as usual in a chaos of marshes. We found a small channel, which took us
to the Bahr Gazal. This swampy and stagnant lacustine river was much
changed since I had last seen it in 1865. It was now a succession of
lakes, through which we steamed for several hours, but without
discovering any exit, except the main passage coming from the west,
which is the actual Bahr Gazal.
This was the third time that I had visited this river. Upon the former
occasions I had remarked the total absence of current; this was even
still more remarkable at the present time, as the river was not only
full, but the surface, formerly clogged and choked with dense rafts of
vegetation, was now clear. I sounded the depth of the lakes and main
channel, which gave a remarkable mean of seven feet throughout, showing
that the bottom was remarkably flat, and had not been subjected to the
action of any stream that would have caused inequalities in the surface
of the ground.
When the vessels lay at anchor, the filth of the ships remained
alongside, thus proving the total absence of stream. It has always
appeared to me that some western outlet concealed by the marsh grass
must exist, which carries away the water brought down by the Djour, and
other streams, into the lacustrine regions of the Bahr Gazal. There is
no doubt that the evaporation, and also the absorption of water by the
immense area of spongy vegetation, is a great drain upon the volume
subscribed by the affluents from the south-west; nevertheless, I should
have expected some stream, however slight, at the junction with the
Nile. My experience of the Bahr Gazal assures me that little or no water
is given to the White Nile by the extraordinary series of lakes and
swamps, which change the appearance of the surface from year to year,
like the shifting phases of a dream.
