Start for the interior—Flags of the Khartoomers—Comfortable travelling with bearers—The African elephant—Parting from Shol and Kurdyook—Disgusting wells in the district of the Lao—Wide sandflats—Village of Take—Fatal accident—Arabian protocol—Halt in the village of Kudy—Description of the Dinka—Peculiarities of the race—Dyeing of the hair—Nudity—“The Turkish lady”—Iron age—Weapons of the Dinka—“People of the stick”—Weapons of defence—Domestic cleanliness—_Cuisine_—Entertainment of the ladies—Snakes—Tobacco-smoking—Construction of the huts—Dinka sheep, goats, and dogs—Reverence for cattle—Degeneration of cows—Intestinal worms—Deficiency of milk—Large murahs—Capabilities of the Dinka—Warlike spirit—Treatment of enemies—Instance of parental affection—Forest district of the Al-Waj—Arrival at Ghattas’s chief Seriba 137 CHAPTER V. Reception at the Seriba—Population—Fertility—Salubrity—Management—Poor prospects of the ivory trade—Failure of European firms in Khartoom—Idrees, the chief agent—Domestic arrangements—Beauties of spring—The daughter Seriba Geer—Bit of primeval forest—Giraffe-hunt—Bamboo jungle—Negro festival and music—Trip to the Dyoor and to Wow—Desertion of bearers—Good entertainment—Marquis Antinori and Vayssière—Old servant of Petherick’s—Hornblend—Height of the water of the Dyoor—Apostrophe to the river—A model Seriba—First acquaintance with Niam-niam—Trader from Tunis—The Wow River—Seriba Agahd in Wow—Edible fruits of the country—Wild buffaloes—Instability of dwellings—Caama and Leucotis antelopes—Numerous butterflies—Bear-baboons—Pharaoh palms—Daily life of the Dyoor—Their race—Iron-smelting—Formation of huts—Idyll of village life—Hunting with snares—Women’s work—Graves—Care of young and old 172 CHAPTER VI. Laying out a garden _à l’Européenne_—Hunting adventure with a bastard Gems-bok—Death of Arslan—Physiognomy of the vegetation—Character of the soil—Geography of plants—Destruction of a Seriba by natives—Seriba law—Cattle-raids on the Dinka—Tour round Ghattas’s Seribas—Geography at Geer—Fish of the Tondy—Fear of ghosts in Kulongo—Caves of Gubbehee—Central African jackal—Bamboos in blossom—Triumph of Nature over her traducers—Joint-stock distillery in Gurfala—Nubian love of drink—Petherick’s Mundo—Unsuccessful chase in the long grass—Two bush-antelopes—Cultivated plants of the district—Cereals—Large growth of sorghum—Leguminous fruits—Oily fruits—Tubers—Vegetables—Tobacco—Smoking in Africa 213 CHAPTER VII.