From the Cape to Cairo; the first traverse of Africa from south to north . nency of theformation. North of Bohr it will probably be found advisable to split the streaminto two loops, one of which would follow the old course of the Bahr-el-Djebel, while the other would be carried round the eastern side of theswamp, flowing by the channel which I discovered, and which I namedthe Gertrude Nile. By using these two channels the bush country to theeast would be benefited, and an enormous tract of alluvial country wouldbe enclosed and drained, a tract of country two thousand miles in area,that would
From the Cape to Cairo; the first traverse of Africa from south to north . nency of theformation. North of Bohr it will probably be found advisable to split the streaminto two loops, one of which would follow the old course of the Bahr-el-Djebel, while the other would be carried round the eastern side of theswamp, flowing by the channel which I discovered, and which I namedthe Gertrude Nile. By using these two channels the bush country to theeast would be benefited, and an enormous tract of alluvial country wouldbe enclosed and drained, a tract of country two thousand miles in area,that would be of incalculable agricultural value. In the Bahr-el-Ghazal the lack of current would probably render such 332 FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO a scheme as I propose impossible, though possibly a current would begradually produced by clearing a straight and narrow channel. Captain Barratier, of Marchands expedition,* reporting on the conditionof the Bahr-el-Ghazal, says :— At eleven oclock in the morning we found the first obstruction formed DI AG RAM I NILE AS SOUTH OF DUTILf. DOTTED UNE represents course sefecfedas desirable channel. F. F represents piles. of the d6lris of rushes matted together by a green plant in form like asmall cabbage. We cleared this obstruction, then a second, and athird, etc. At midday we passed into a succession of marshes covered withnenuphar (from the seed-pods of which the natives make a poor flour).There was scarcely any water, and the men dragged the boat over the THE SWAMPS OF THE UPPER NILE 333 mud, into which they sank to their armpits : it is marsh as far as one cansee; from the mud rises a fearful stench. February 1.—We drag the boats over the mud. At last, at twelvenoon, we enter a lake. Water ! water ! and weeds ! but no land. Such is the present condition of the Bahr-el-Ghazal; it resembles in DIAGRAM AS NORTH OF GA6A SHAMBEH
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