At this time of the year Shilluks begin to travel. Relatives pay mutual visits, and marriageable young men go to the Nuers and Dinkas with spears, wire, stuffs and dura, which they exchange for sheep and calves.
Industries. Fishing.Fishing is precariously carried out in shallow waters, either by spearing (horizontally, with bow-shaped fishing spears) or by pouncing on the fish with hemispherical wicker traps somewhat like lobster pots. Neither nets nor fishing lines appear to be used. Hippo hunting.Hippopotamus hunting is done by combined parties in canoes or dug-outs, harpooning the hippopotamus and despatching him with spears when he comes to the surface to breathe. These animals, it may be remarked in passing, are very savage, doing much harm on the land and gratuitously attacking canoes, etc., in the water.
Climate.From January to April the climate is not bad, though April is the warmest month of the year. June to September constitutes the rainy season,[130] and from October to December the country is flooded with water: but the marshes and khors all dry up by April. From November to April the climate, though certainly not perfect, has little effect on a healthy constitution, provided good food, water, clothing, and a house are available. October is perhaps the worst month of the year.
SHILLUK WARRIORS.
Relations with the Dinkas.The Shilluks do not, as a rule, agree well with the Dinkas, and there are big contrasts between the two races. The Dinka possesses many cattle and prepares his food with milk, whilst the Shilluk has only a few cattle and sprinkles his food with the dust obtained from drying and grinding dura stalks; for this he is despised by the Dinka.
Taken on the whole, the Dinkas are much more intelligent than the Shilluks. When Shilluk boys are unable to find a reply to the pointed remarks of a Dinka boy, they raise their sticks threateningly and say “The Dinka boy has a sharp tongue and must be flogged till he is quiet,” which generally stops the rather vulgar expressions used by Dinka boys.
The Dinkas are said to have formerly lived on the right bank of the lower Sobat, but were driven inland by the Shilluks.
Incited by a few Arabs, the Shilluks in former times used to raid the Dinkas and carry away their women and cattle. They however live peaceably now, thanks to the fear they have of the new Government. The two races now and then pay mutual visits, and also intermarry occasionally; a certain amount of trade is carried on between them.
Arab and other immigrants.There are a few Selim Baggara in the neighbourhood of Kaka, but these people appear to visit the district only after the harvest to purchase dura from the Shilluks, which they are too indolent to cultivate themselves.