About Six Miles West From
The Sobat Junction On The North Side Of The River, Is A Kind Of
Backwater, Extending North Like A Lake For A Distance Of Several Days'
Boat Journey:
This is eventually lost in regions of high grass and
marshes; in the wet season this forms a large lake.
A hill bearing north
20 degrees west so distant as to be hardly discernible.
The Bahr Giraffe is a small river entering the Nile on the south bank
between the Sobat and Bahr el Gazal - my reis (Diabb) tells me it is
merely a branch from the White Nile from the Aliab country, and not an
independent river. Course west, 10 degrees north, the current about one
mile per hour. Marshes and ambatch, far as the eye can reach.
At 6.40 P.M. reached the Bahr el Gazal; the junction has the appearance
of a lake about three miles in length, by one in width, varying
according to seasons. Although bank-full, there is no stream whatever
from the Bahr el Gazal, and it has the appearance of a backwater formed
by the Nile. The water being clear and perfectly dead, a stranger would
imagine it to be an overflow of the Nile, were the existence of the Bahr
el Gazal unknown. The Bahr el Gazal extends due west from this point for
a great distance, the entire river being a system of marshes, stagnant
water overgrown by rushes, and ambatch wood, through which a channel has
to be cleared to permit the passage of a boat. Little or no water can
descend to the Nile from this river, otherwise there would be some
trifling current at the embouchure. The Nile has a stream of about a
mile and a half per hour, as it sweeps suddenly round the angle,
changing its downward course from north to east. The breadth in this
spot does not exceed 130 yards; but it is impossible to determine the
actual width of the river, as its extent is concealed by reeds with
which the country is entirely covered to the horizon.
The White Nile having an upward course of west 10 degrees north,
variation of compass 10 degrees west, from the Sobat to the Bahr el
Gazal junction, now turns abruptly to south 10 degrees east. From native
accounts there is a great extent of lake country at this point. The
general appearance of the country denotes a vast flat, with slight
depressions; these form extensive lakes during the wet season, and
sodden marshes during the dry weather; thus contradictory accounts of
the country may be given by travellers according to the seasons at which
they examined it. There is nothing to denote large permanent lakes; vast
masses of water plants and vegetation, requiring both a wet and dry
season, exist throughout; but there are no great tracts of deep water.
The lake at the Bahr el Gazal entrance is from seven to nine feet deep,
by soundings in various places. Anchored the little squadron, as I wait
here for observations. Had the "Clumsy's" yard lowered and examined. Cut
a supply of grass for the animals.
Jan. 6th. - Overhauled the stores. My stock of liquor will last to
Gondokoro; after that spot "vive la misere." It is curious in African
travel to mark the degrees of luxury and misery; how, one by one, the
wine, spirits bread, sugar, tea, etc., are dropped like the feathers of
a moulting bird, and nevertheless we go ahead contented. My men busy
cutting grass, washing, fishing, etc.
Latitude, by meridian altitude of sun, 9 degrees 29 minutes. Difference
of time by observation between this point and the Sobat junction, 4 min.
26 secs., 1 degree 6 minutes 30 seconds distance. Caught some perch, but
without the red fin of the European species; also some boulti with the
net. The latter is a variety of perch growing to about four pounds'
weight, and is excellent eating.
Sailed at 3 P.M. Masses of the beautiful but gloomy Papyrus rush,
growing in dense thickets about eighteen feet above the water. I
measured the diameter of one head, or crown, four feet one inch. _ Jan.
7th. - Started at 6 A.M.; course E. 10 degrees S.; wind dead against us;
the "Clumsy" not in sight. Obliged to haul along by fastening long ropes
to the grass about a hundred yards ahead. This is frightful work; the
men must swim that distance to secure the rope, and those on board
hauling it in gradually, pull the vessel against the stream. Nothing can
exceed the labor and tediousness of this operation. From constant work
in the water many of my men are suffering from fever. The temperature is
much higher than when we left Khartoum; the country, as usual, one vast
marsh. At night the hoarse music of hippopotami snorting and playing
among the high-flooded reeds, and the singing of countless myriads of
mosquitoes - the nightingales of the White Nile. My black fellow,
Richarn, whom I had appointed corporal, will soon be reduced to the
ranks; the animal is spoiled by sheer drink. Having been drunk every day
in Khartoum, and now being separated from his liquor, he is plunged into
a black melancholy. He sits upon the luggage like a sick rook, doing
minstrelsy, playing the rababa (guitar), and smoking the whole day,
unless asleep, which is half that time: he is sighing after the merissa
(beer) pots of Egypt. This man is an illustration of missionary success.
He was brought up from boyhood at the Austrian mission, and he is a
genuine specimen of the average results. He told me a few days ago that
"he is no longer a Christian." There are two varieties of convolvolus
growing here; also a peculiar gourd, which, when dry and divested of its
shell, exposes a vegetable sponge, formed of a dense but fine network of
fibers; the seeds are contained in the center of this fiber. The bright
yellow flowers of the ambatch, and of a tree resembling a laburnum, are
in great profusion.
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