Sobat River

“ The whole drainage of the country, tends to the east, and accordingly flows into the Sobat.
The range of mountains running south from Ellyria is the watershed between the east and west drainage; the Sobat receiving it on the one hand, and the White Nile on the other, while the Nile eventually receives the entire flow by the Sobat, as previously mentioned, in lat. 9 degrees 22 minutes. Having scrambled up the steep bank of the Kanieti river, we crossed a large field of dhurra, and arrived at the village of Wakkala. ”

“ Upward course of the White Nile west, 2 degrees north from the Sobat junction.
4th Jan.—By observation of sun's meridian altitude, I make the latitude of the Sobat junction 9 degrees 21 minutes 14 seconds. Busy fishing the yard of the "Clumsy," and mending sails. The camels and donkeys all well—plenty of fine grass—made a good stock of hay. My reis and boatmen tell me that the Sobat, within a few days' sail of the junction, divides into seven branches, all shallow and with a rapid current. The banks are flat, and the river is now bank-full. ”

“ As it approaches the Nile the Sobat flows in a well-defined channel cut in the alluvial plains through which it passes. The banks become steep, the slope rapid and the current strong. Several khors join it from N. and S., some being simply spill channels. These channels or “loops” are a characteristic feature of the river. The Sobat enters the Nile almost at right angles in 9° 22′ N., 31° 31′ E. It is 400ft. wide at its mouth and has adepth of 18 to 20 ft. ”

“ Below the confluence of the Pibor and Baro the united stream, now known as the Sobat, takes a decided N.W. trend, passing for some distance through a region of swamps. Just beyond the swamps and some 40 m. below the confluence, is the fortified post of Nasser. From this point the ground on either side of the river gradually rises, though on the S. it is liable to inundation during flood time. From Nasser to the junction of the Sobat with the Nile the river has a course of about 180 m. ”

“ The expedition HAD CROSSED THE SOBAT RIVER, and had arrived in the Langgo about 130 miles due east of Fatiko. They described the country as similar to portions of the Soudan. Generally, flat plains of the rich grass known as negheel, which never grows high, and is the finest pasturage. The trees were for the most part Soont (Acacia Arabica) , which is not met with in the White Nile countries south of the Sobat junction.
The Langgos were an immense tribe, but were, like the Baris, divided under many chiefs. These people were exceedingly large and powerful, and were esteemed as great warriors. ”

“ On the White Nile, now that the sudd has been cleared, steamers and native boats can ply the whole year round up to Gondokoro. In time the Sobat may prove a very good route for trade with Abyssinia. And the Bahr el Ghazal, with its network of waters, is in this respect the most fortunate of all the provinces. Many of its waterways are still blocked by sudd, but every year the navigation is improving. A serviceable channel is now available on the Jur River as far as Wau, and large steamers will eventually be able to get up even much further than this. ”

“ The Asua river is only one day's march or about twenty miles, east of Fatiko. The Sobat is never dry and is reported to be a noble river; this suggests that Speke Victoria N'yanza, or the Bahr Ingo's eastern corner, must have an effluent in addition to the Victoria Nile, that flows from M'tese's capital of Uganda. ”

“ The entire country is merely a vast marsh, with a river flowing through the midst. At this season last year I was on the Settite. That great river and the Atbara were then excessively low.
The Blue Nile was also low at the same time. On the contrary, the White Nile and the Sobat, although not at their highest, are bank-full, while the former two are failing; this proves that the White Nile and the Sobat rise far south, among mountains subject to a rainfall at different seasons, extending over a greater portion of the year than the rainy season of Abyssinia and the neighbouring Galla country. ”

“ We had formed the idea of returning, properly equipped, for this inland navigation, and headed down-stream with about two inches freeboard. Our sluggish Gelo bore us slowly into the sluggish Pibor which pushed us gently into the livelier Sobat. On our way down this river to the Nile we were so short of food and the usual wherewithal to buy it that we were obliged to part with one of our tusks for native grain, fowls, and a couple of sheep. We camped frequently by the villages of the Nuers, and were astonished to learn on our arrival at the Nile that we were then at war with this tribe. ”

“ Far away in Egypt, prince, priest, and peasant look southwards with anxious attention for the fluctuating yet certain rise. Gradually the flood begins. The Bahr-el-Ghazal from a channel of stagnant pools and marshes becomes a broad and navigable stream. The Sobat and the Atbara from dry watercourses with occasional pools, in which the fish and crocodiles are crowded, turn to rushing rivers. ”

“ A community of the warlike Gumbil people recently occupied the skirts of the vast Wallega forest fringing the western foot of the Abyssinian highlands, under the same latitude as the Nile and 8obut confluence. The chief river traversing their territory to join the Sobat, they named the Komanji, or "Cow River," because their herds, during the dry season, finding no pasturage except on its banks, crowded down to the water's edge. ”

“ It is the Sobat which, Speke says, “runs for a seven days’ journey through a forest so dense as to completely exclude the rays of the sun.”
Above its mouth we must be prepared to meet the greatest of all the obstructions of the Nile. Here are many small affluents from both east and west, and here is a vast stretch of marsh through which the waters soak as through a sponge. In the centre of this “sponge” tract is a small lake—Lake No.276 But to reach it or emerge from it again, by means of the labyrinthine channels, is a work of great difficulty. ”

“ They all, however, wear a leather apron or skin fastened round their waists. The younger girls and unmarried women wear no such covering, and, like the men, are quite naked.
The right bank of the Sobat near Nasser Post is densely populated as far as the junction of the Sobat and Pibor rivers, there being several large and important villages such as Kwoinlualtong, Taufot, and Ajungmir in addition to smaller ones. The left bank of the Sobat is not inhabited, as from Nasser to the Pibor a considerable portion of the country is inundated when the rivers are full. ”

“ As the country rises it becomes more and more wooded, until there is dense jungle, especially near the Blue Nile. The scenery all along the Abyssinian frontier is described as very beautiful and mountainous; but most of it is very unhealthy, especially during and after the rains, when the climate is fearfully hot and oppressive, and malarial fevers of several kinds are common even among the natives themselves. The country south of the Sobat near the Nile belongs to the swamp districts. Further inland is the least explored and most uninhabited part of the Soudan ”

“ But a closer examination of the facts, which has only been possible since the Soudan was re-opened, has caused this view to be abandoned.
The ‘green water’ is caused by the presence of an innumerable number of microscopic algæ, which give it a very offensive taste and smell. So far as can be ascertained, their origin is in the tributaries of the Sobat above Nasser. The rains in April carry them out into the White Nile, and thence they pass down to Nubia and Egypt. Under a hot sun and in clear water they increase with amazing rapidity, and sometimes they form a column 250 to 500 miles long. ”

“ After reaching the more open waters of the Sobat the lightest breeze raised sufficient lop on the water to come aboard with our dangerously low freeboard. As it was, we were caught about mid-stream [86] once, and before we could reach the bank the whole flotilla settled down. Luckily, we were only a few yards from shore and in about ten feet of water. Our boys were magnificent, and got everything up while we plugged shots into the water to keep off crocs. Had we foundered further out, the whole of our ivory and rifles, etc., would have been lost. ”

“ Then you steered straight for the land, and by-and-by three palms would appear on the sky, tall and slim, and with their disheveled heads in a bunch, as if in confidential criticism of the dark mangroves. The Sofala would be headed towards the somber strip of the coast, which at a given moment, as the ship closed with it obliquely, would show several clean shining fractures--the brimful estuary of a river. ”

“ A fine view is obtained of Sofaid-Koh, which forms the southern boundary of the valley; many villages, with cultivation in a very sandy soil. Small partridge very abundant. A fox observed. The ravines wherever there is water, crowded with Typha, and Saccharum; oaks are seen in abundance on the mountain to the south; left the Soorkhab river after fording it near yesterday’s camp; the bridge is quite useless for cattle, as the ground is rocky and broken on this side, no pains having been taken to carry the work to the road ”

“ A river overflows and turns a fruitful plain into a marsh; or it fails, and turns it into a sandy desert. Sogdiana is watered by a number of great rivers, which make their way across it from the high land on its east to the Aral or Caspian. Now we read in history of several instances of changes, accidental or artificial, in the direction or the supply of these great water-courses. I think I have read somewhere, but cannot recover my authority, of some emigration of the inhabitants of those countries, caused by a failure of the stream on which they depended. ”

“ The clouds, drawn by the violent action of the sun, are condensed, then broken, and fall as rain on the top of this high ridge, and swell every river, while a wind from the ocean on the east blows like a monsoon up each of these streams in a direction contrary to their current, during the whole time of the inundation, and this enables boats to ascend into the western parts of Sofala, and the interior country to the mountains, where lies the gold. ”

“ This cause accounted for the never-failing wells of Soojalup—doubtless a substratum of clay prevented the total escape of the water, which remained at a depth of forty feet from the surface. The large tract of country thus annually flooded by the river Gash is rendered extremely fruitful, and is the resort of both the Hadendowa and the Hallonga Arabs during the dry season, who cultivate large quantities of dhurra, and other grain. ”

“ The country round Soba is level, as everywhere about here, to the foot of the Abyssinian mountains, and the soil, particularly at this season, dried up and black; the thicker vegetation is confined to the river shore, farther on, there are only single trees, now more frequent, now seldom.
I promised the sailors a sheep if we arrived early next morning at Kamlîn; for the wind was violent, and allowed us to make but little way. Our ship, too, does not go very fast, the sailors are not adroit, and, with the present low level of the water, the bark easily sticks in the sand-banks. ”

“ Drainage.Khor Tomat, draining Beni Shangul and Fazogli is the principal khor emptying into the Blue Nile.
The more important ones emptying into the White Nile are:—
Khor Deleib, source in Jebel Tabi and mouth at Renk; Khors Rau and Balantega, mouths at Jebel Ahmed Agha, but source conjectural, and Khor Adar or Yal, which empties into the White Nile about 30 miles north of Fashoda, and possibly forms the mouth of both the Yabus and Sonka. Another theory is that the Sonka and Yabus drain into a marsh, from which a certain amount of water is believed to find its way into the Sobat near Nasser. ”

“ The whole of this country suffers greatly from want of water, and even where there is water in the streams near their sources, it soon disappears into the ground. Water can, however, often be found in many of the stream beds by digging.
South and south-west of Gule.South and south-west of Gule stretches an almost uninterrupted plain to the Baro and Sobat, bounded on the west by the White Nile and on the east by the hills on the Abyssinian frontier. ”

“ Gradually this lake became silted up with peaty deposits, and formed a series of swamps and lagoons through which the Bahr el Gebel from the south and the Bahr el Ghazal from the west wander in a series of loops and curves without any certain banks. The smallest rise in the level of the river floods an immense tract of country, and at all times of the year the sudd region is one gigantic evaporating pan. ”

“ About the middle of the morning there sounded through the still air a distant boom, which grew louder until finally it became a crashing roar. Beyond a bend in the river stretched before them a long gorge. There the stream had narrowed, and, rushing across a ledge shaped like a horseshoe, foamed and roared and beat its way among the great boulders. The paddlers brought their craft into smooth water under an overhanging bank while they held a council of war. ”

“ Now, a great part of the valley of Seba Biar is lower than the level of the Nile at the height of the inundation, this was easily done. A canal from the eastern branch of the river, near Bubastes, did not require to be cut to a greater distance than seven miles, in order to allow the waters to fill the valley. By this operation, the irrigation could have been carried as far as the northern boundary of the bitter lakes, between Suez and the Mediterranean; and at least 20,000 acres of land gained for agricultural purposes. ”