less from Europeans than from Arabs. They live under
conditions the most unfavourable to their development; on every side
they are hemmed in by foes. Constantly falling victims to the cruelty of
the slave-hunters, it is no wonder that they regard with suspicion, and
too often treat with ferocity, the strangers who traverse their land;
not unnaturally they implicate them in the traffic which crushes them to
the ground.

Alexina Tinne reached at length the junction of the Sobat with the Nile.
She determined on ascending the tributary stream to its highest
navigable point, calculating that the voyage would not occupy more than
seven or eight days. The Sobat valley is much more attractive to the eye
than the course of the White Nile. Its ample pastures, teeming with
flocks of ostriches and herds of giraffes, stretch away to the remote
horizon. Elephants wander freely in the fertile uplands, coming down to
the river at evening-time to drink. For weeks the voyagers lingered
among the fair scenery of this happy valley; and then they resumed their
ascent of the Nile as far as Lake Nu, where it receives the majestic
volume of the Bahr-el-Ghazal before striking sharply towards the south.

The swamps of the White Nile exhale a malarious atmosphere, unfavourable
to human life, but not adverse to the growth of a picturesque
vegetation. Tamarisks, mimosas, climbing plants, papyrus, and
euphorbia--the latter yielding a poisonous milky juice in which the
natives dip their deadly arrow-points--thrive in unchecked luxuriance,
and present a rich variety of colour.

* * * * *

Beyond Lake Nu the White Nile breaks into an intricate series of curves
and meanders, through which its current rushes with great rapidity, and
with such strength that the steamer was compelled to throw off the
towing-rope of the two Nile boats, and leave them to themselves. The
sailors and servants accordingly landed, and set to work with sturdy
arms to haul them against the stream. But in the worst fury of the
current the rope broke, and the boats drifting downward, seemed doomed
to destruction. Osman Aga, a resolute and courageous soldier, who was on
the deck of the steamer at the time, seized another rope and sprang
instantly into the river. With vigorous strokes he made for the shore.
He had almost gained it, and had flung the rope to the crew of the
nearest boat, when the strength of the current overpowered him, and he
sank! A