M0N8. THIBAUT. 65 Staff, and lived comfortably enough on his wife's means, till the Frigate-Capitan Achmet (a Swiss named Baumgarten) was sent to examine closely tlie White Nile, and took our friend, then Chawagi Ibrahim, with him. Achmet Capitan died after fulfilling his task, but during his dying moments no one was near him save Thibaut and Dr. Soliman Effendi,— a singular loneliness, more remarkable as many matters belonging to the dead man were missing, as books, maps, charts, manuscripts, and some instruments ; but it is possible these had been given away. Baumgarten had employed Ibrahim, at the recommendation of Achmet Pascha and Ibrahim, by what means I know not, got himself recommended to Mehmet Ali, then in Bellad-Sudan. In short, all of a sudden, Mons. Thibaut was named engineer to the expedition, with 1000 piastres a month, and travelled on in full security under the guidance of Baumgarten's notes, maps, papers, instruments, &c. The instruments, however, must have had an easy time of it with him, as our hero had not the smallest idea of their scientific uses, nor even of how to handle them, nor would he learn. So what could be hoped for from him ? Nothing but the journal, notes, and charts, of Achmet-Capitan, altered and garbled, with favourite places and races set down where fancy dictated, and others that did not please struck out.

Lies,— adventures, — wonders,— were there in over abundance ; such as the 600 miles of course surveyed, as the Pascha told us. The expedition was five months out ; allow them three consumed in upward progress, and two lor returning, thus to arrive at the 600 miles, seven miles a day must have been for three months the advance ; a thing utterly impossible, taking into consideration ignorance of the river's channel, the long and large shallow reaches — so many of which are to be seen in the White River— the knowing nothing of the languages of the countries, the halts necessary to make inquiries, and the still more necessary ones to procure provisions; then the total iiidifrerenoe of the Turks to all pushin"' on, or discoveries of any kind ; and, finally, the disunion of the leaders among themselves ; — all these considered, I say, made such progress impossible ; and, were these not enough, the licavyladen state of tlu;ir vessels of itself made the thing impracticable.

But, be the 600 miles' survey as it may, this much is only too F