who are the terror of all ivory-traders, as they are an
independent and powerful race of people. In passing
through their country we were told that our guns
should always be at hand, that we should not drink
any water, as it was poisoned, and, above all, that we
should move across the country in a compact body,
and not in procession. On seeing the nipple of Bom-
bay s gun blown out, I inquired how he was to get
through the Bari ?—was the gun safe to fire in its
patched state ? Oh yes, he’d fire it, because the gun
was strong—it had stood the proof of three cartridges !
How was that ? “ It’s some time ago now; but Ubede,
Abdulla, and a man who deserted, had a spite at me,
and each of them put a cartridge into this gun, thinking
it would blow my head oif, but the nipple was only
blown out.” He was such an excellent little fellow
that he never told us this when it happened; and
when asked whether he had suspected his enemy Baraka
to have played him this trick, he generously replied,
“No, I never suspected him.” One other instance
of the Seedee character may be mentioned
before giving an account of our travels through the
Bari people. Our cook boy, M’kate, a very tall good-
looking lad, ever obliging and good-humoured, one
day left a cooking-pot twelve miles behind. He was
admonished by Frij, and took the matter so much to
heart that he travelled back for it alone that same day
and returned during the night, having recovered the
old pot, which was certainly not worth the journey.
I t only proves what men will do with kind treatment
; he was not asked to go back, and had walked
by himself thirty-six miles through a strange country.
C H A P T E B XV.
PASSAGE THROUGH THE BARI— POISONED STREAMS— GONDOKORO
— MEETING WITH MR SAMUEL BAKER— MR AND MRS PETHE-
RICK ARRIVE AT GONDOKORO— TRADE AND TRADERS— THE
NILE AND MODE OF FERRYING IT — EMBARK IN BAKER’S
BOATS FOR KHARTOOM.
T h e Bari country was a series of gently swelling
downs, sloping to the Nile a few miles to our left.
The downs were covered with grass now ripe and
only a foot high. During the bright mid-day sun,
with a fresh, hot breeze, the grass, when set on fire,
burns with alarming rapidity; but in the darkness of
night, when the air was still, it burned quietly but
brilliantly, and we dined by its light: no theatrical
footlights or exhibition of fireworks could compare
with the brilliancy of the consuming flame. Densely
foliaged tamarinds covered with ripe fruit, wild plum,
sheabutter, and several other umbrageous trees scattered
over the landscape, gave it the appearance of an
English park, for here no palms nor other tropical
genera were to be seen. We had to step over numbers
of running rivulets whose channels and banks
were generally of rock. In the rainy season these
torrents must be difficult to cross, as they have all