— i8 — my course until I fell in with my friend Ali Amuri and found him also in mind to return to Khartoum. Whereupon we agreed to travel in company. The zeriba of Ashur was near the River Bangu, one of the branches of the Bahr el Ghazal River, which none of our people had ever before traversed: so we proposed to navigate it, that thus we might save ourselves the labour of carrying the merchandise and bales by land. We built two boats and embarked in them our goods and porters to the number of two hundred and fourteen, and set out for Meshra el Rek with food sufficient for two months. We progressed for thirteen days and nights when the stream widened out, until it resembled a lake rather than a river, and so we deviated from our way. In this lake we wandered for five and seventy days, without seeing aught but sky and sea, even though we searched with a scrutinising eye the waters far and near ; then indeed did our stores become exhausted, and we ate what we had of skins and leather thongs, being reduced to sore straits through hunger. For, verily, God abaseth whom He willeth, while there be some whom He exalteth. While we were in this sad condition lo ! there appeared some smoke afar off. So Amuri and I selected nine of our men, and we embarked in a small skiff making for the direction of the smoke, but we had not gone but a short distance from the boats when the smoke ceased. Then the boats drew away from us, and we wandered aimlessly at