AN ADVANCE. 79 not finding game at Toadwan, as our Arabs had held out great hopes of our getting rhinoceros there. On the spot we had chosen for our encampment, there were the traces of many recent fires. It was evidently the place that had been selected by the Bas6 for their first night's halt, after they had driven off the cattle captured from the Haikota people ; and there was plenty of evidence of their having slain and eaten some of the beasts. The next day we pushed five hours farther into the country ; on the way coming to another khor, called Sobat, which we explored for some distance, and found running water, which very soon, however, lost itself in the sand. On either side grew coarse grass, ten to twelve feet high.

We were obliged to let the caravan travel the greater part of the way in the sandy bed of the Gash, which was most fatiguing for the camels. One of those bought on the Atbara had already died, and one or two others were pretty well Jiors du combat.

The latter part of the day's journey was accomplished by the caravan cutting off a great bend in the river, and it was no joke to get the camels through the grass and thick fringe of dhoumpalms that bordered the bank. Some of us followed the course of the river ; the great inducement of moieh sarkit, or water above the surface of its bed, being held out to us. There is always a certain amount of excitement in approaching water where it is scarce and watering-places a considerable distance apart ; for, in a game-country, there is always a good chance of encountering animals, either drinking or returning from the water. We found the banks of the Gash narrowed very much, while great rocks lying here and there made it very difficult for our horses to travel ; and, in one place, these rocks rose to the height of sixty or seventy feet on each bank. We found a good deal of water, containing small fish and two or three baby crocodiles. It is extraordinary how these crea-