THE BARI COUNTRY. 351 The Zhirs own numerous flocks and herds, and cultivate large fields of sesame and dourra. They are very superior to the Nuehrs and Kyks in stature, symmetry of form and their manners toward strangers. In all these tribes, the men go entirely naked, while the women wear a narrow girdle of sheepskin around the loins. Dr. Knoblecher, however, confirmed the statement of "Werne as to the modesty of their demeanor and the evident morality of their domestic life.

After leaving the Zhirs the expedition entered the country of the Baris, and on the fourteenth of January reached the rapids of the White Nile, at the island of Tsanker, in 4° 49 ' N. This was the farthest point reached by all previous expeditions, as they found it impossible to advance further with their vessels. The Nubian pilot, Suleyman Abou-Zeid, determined to make the attempt, and on the following day, aided by a strong north-wind, stemmed the rapid and reached the broad, lake-like expanse of river above it. Continuing his voyage, Dr. Knoblecher sailed sixteen miles further, to the Bari village of Tokiman.

The country was exceedingly rich and beautiful, abounding in trees, and densely peopled. The current of the river was more rapid, its waters purer, and the air seemed to have entirely lost the depressing miasmatic exhalations of the regions further north. The inhabitants of Tokiman showed great astonishment at the sight of the vessels and their white occupants Nothing, however, affected them so much as the tones of a harmonica, played by Dr. Knoblecher. Many of the people shed tears of delight, and the chief offered the sovereignty of his tribe in exchange for the wonderful instrument.

On the sixteenth, the expedition reached the village of Logwek, which takes its name from a solitary granite peak,