A DEAD SLOCK. 293 experiences during our enforced sojourn in such undesirable surroundings.

Imagine then a space of clear water, a hundred yards broad, and three hundred long, bounded on each side by tall grass and reeds, which grow to a height of twenty or thirty feet above the water, so that nothing but water, grass, and sky could be seen. The river was dark and dirty ; supposing you called for a glass of water, you obtained a liquid mixture of mud and water ; if a pinch of alum was added to clear it, the result was that about a quarter of an inch of mud was deposited at the bottom of the glass. The sickening smell of tropical plants and of the rotting vegetation oppressed us ; now and then dead fish floated past, or at times we saw the decaying body of a native slowly borne down the stream. The air was alive with mosquitoes, whose attacks continued by day as well as by night. The steamer was so crowded that there was no room to walk about the deck, so that want of exercise told upon our health, in addition to the impure water and insufficient food ; for all our fresh meat was soon finished, and our principal food was dhurra pancakes, and this was nearly exhausted before we were released, the sailors having to be put on short allowance long before. Nearly every day we had a terrible storm of wind and drenching rain, and the heat of Khartoum having warped the decks, the cabins were not watertight ; so that in a storm the