rises at no great distance from the river. His descriptions of the
scenery through which his boat conveyed him are very graphic. The river
broadened as he advanced, its entire breadth, however, not being
discernible from the boat. Vegetation became more luxuriant, and was on
a larger scale; the bushes resounded with the songs of birds, echoing
clearly across the transparent water. Splendid was the white plumage of
the osprey, shining in the midst of the dark-green foliage; nor less so
that of the little white heron, standing with melancholy aspect on the
prostrate tree-trunks. On an overhanging branch, defined against the
sky, was perched the timid, snake-necked cormorant, with fiery-red eyes
fixed on his slippery prey; then, plump as a stone, darted into the
water, above which, after a long interval, showed his head and neck. One
of his comrades seemed to feel a little too drenched after his late
immersion, for he sat in the sun, spreading out his beautiful plumage of
dark metallic-green to dry. The piping call of the cheerful jacamar was
changed at intervals for the deep, full note of the red-billed shrike,
as he sat hidden in the thicket; bright yellow weaver-birds twittered in
crowds on the boughs, whilst from the depth of the shade came the cooing
murmur of the turtle-dove. Stark and rigid, like the stem of an old
tree, the crocodile took his rest, sometimes with wide-open jaws: here
and there the hippopotamus lifted his giant head from the troubled
waters, now scattering them in showers of spray, now raising his fearful
voice, which every echo of the distant shores repeated.

At length Dr. Heughlin reached Lake Nu, on the Bahr-el-Ghazal. At that
time of the year the river in many places is as narrow as a canal, and
bordered on both sides by a swampy plain which stretches away to the dim
horizon, covered with a dense growth of gigantic reeds. At other places
it broadens into considerable lakes.

The natives navigate it in light canoes, which they manage with great
dexterity. They sit astride the stern, with their legs hanging down in
the water, and if they cannot find any branches capable of being used as
oars, they paddle with their hands. The Nouers, who inhabit this region
of marsh and morass, seem to offer an illustration of the Darwinian
theory of the "survival of the fittest." By a process of natural
selection, they have become thoroughly adapted to the conditions of the
soil and climate, the weaker of the ra