The Bahr el Ghazal is the most recently occupied province. Posts are now occupied at Wau, Rumbek, Dem Zubehr, Shambe, Chak Chak, Tonj, Meshra-el-Rek, and Channamin on the Jur River. The country was occupied without difficulty. Here the two principal tribes were the Dinkas in the north and east and the Niam-Niams or Azande in the south. All the smaller tribes, Jur, Bongo, Golo, etc., had been broken up by repeated raids, and had fled to one or other of these powerful neighbours for protection, the protection practically taking the form of slavery. A tract of 150 miles square had thus relapsed into absolute wilderness, though once thickly peopled. Now the tribes from the Dinka side are returning and rebuilding their villages under British protection, an immense advantage to the country, for they are hard-working and industrious, while the Dinkas are lazy and troublesome in civil life, although good soldiers. Early in 1902 one of the Dinka tribes fell upon a convoy and murdered a British officer near Rumbek by treachery. But the murder was speedily avenged, and this was the only instance of active hostility. The Niam-Niams, although cannibals, are much more intelligent and progressive. They are very well disposed and anxious to trade. The worst enemy in the Bahr el Ghazal is not any human foe, but disease, especially the blackwater fever, which has been of a severe type, and more than one valuable life has been sacrificed to it. Fortunately, as experience of the country grows, the danger diminishes, and it is hoped that as the country is developed, with better housing and communication, and less moving about in the rains, still greater improvement may be looked for.