The Night Being Fine, We Slept On A Hillock Of Sand A Few
Yards From The Well, Rejoiced To Be Away From The Mosquitoes Of
Gondokoro.
On the following morning we started at sunrise, and in two hours' fast
marching we arrived at the Kanieti river Although there had been no
rain, the stream was very rapid and up to the girths of the horses at
the ford.
The banks were very abrupt and about fifteen feet deep, the
bed between forty and fifty yards wide; thus a considerable volume of
water is carried down to the river Sobat by this river during the rains.
The whole drainage of the country, tends to the east, and accordingly
flows into the Sobat.
The range of mountains running south from Ellyria is the watershed
between the east and west drainage; the Sobat receiving it on the one
hand, and the White Nile on the other, while the Nile eventually
receives the entire flow by the Sobat, as previously mentioned, in lat.
9 degrees 22 minutes. Having scrambled up the steep bank of the Kanieti
river, we crossed a large field of dhurra, and arrived at the village of
Wakkala. The village, or town, is composed of about seven hundred
houses, the whole being most strongly protected by a system of palisades
formed of "babanoose," the hard iron wood of the country. Not only is it
thus fortified, but the palisades are also protected by a hedge of
impervious thorns that grow to a height of about twenty feet. The
entrance to this fort is a curious archway, about ten feet deep, formed
of the iron-wood palisades, with a sharp turn to the right and left
forming a zigzag. The whole of the village thus fenced is situated in
the midst of a splendid forest of large timber. The inhabitants of
Wakkala are the same as the Ellyria, but governed by an independent
chief. They are great hunters; and as we arrived I saw several parties
returning from the forest with portions of wild boar and buffalo.
From Gondokoro to this spot I had not seen a single head of game, but
the immediate neighbourhood of Wakkala was literally trodden down by the
feet of elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, rhinoceros, and varieties of
large antelopes.
Having examined the village, I ordered my people to unload the animals
in the forest about a quarter of a mile from the entrance. The soil was
extremely rich, and the ground being shaded from the scorching rays of
the sun by the large trees, there was abundance of fine grass, which
accounted for the presence of the game: good pasturage, extensive
forests, and a plentiful supply of water insuring the supply of wild
animals.
In a few minutes my horses and donkeys were luxuriating on the rich
herbage, not having tasted grass for some days; the camels revelled in
the foliage of the dark green mimosas; and the men, having found on the
march a buffalo that had been caught in a trap and there killed by a
lion, obtained some meat, and the whole party were feeding.
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