ENGAGvNO a VESSEL. 317 barely have reached the point attained hy Dr. Knobleeher.

The Consul proposed my going with Lattif Effendi until I should meet the yearly expedition on its return, and then come down the river with it. This would have enabled me to penetrate to lat. 9°, or perhaps 8°, but after passing the islands of the Shiilooks, one sees little except water, grass and mosquitoes, until he reaches the land of the Kyks, in lat. 7°. After weighing carefully all the arguments on both sides, I decided to take a small boat and ascend as far as the islands. Here the new and rich animal and vegetable world of the magnificent river begins to unfold, and in many respects it is the most impressive portion of his stream.

I was fortunate in finding a small vessel, of the kind called sandal — the only craft in port, except the Pasha's dahabiyeh, which would have answered my purpose. It belonged to a fat old Turk, named Abou-Balta, from whom I engaged it for three hundred and twenty-five piastres. The crew consisted of a rais, five strong Dongolese sailors, and a black female slave, as cook. The rais knew the river, but positively refused to take me further than the island of Aba, somewhere between lat. 12° and 13°, on account of the danger of venturing among the Shiilooks, without an armed force. I named the boat the John Ledyard, in memory of the first American traveller in Africa. The name was none the less appropriate, since Ledyard was buried beside the Nile, at the outset of a journey undertaken for the purpose of discovering its sources.

Dr. Hertz gave me two sheep as provision for the voyage, and the remainder of my outfit cost me about a hundred and twenty piastres in the bazaars of Khartoum.

I reached Khartoum at a favorable season for making the