346 INFORMATION CONCERNING partly too deeply engaged in their own business to attend to matters of little or no importance to them, or were such from whose statements no certain conclusions could be deduced. At last, however, I became acquainted with a negro from Runga, who had spent three years of his life in Europe, and then returned to his native country. A lengthened intercourse with this man convinced me that he had enjoyed the opportunity of learning more than his countrymen, and had profited by it, and was, moreover, not addicted to falsehood, as the natives are, almost without exception. He had visited his fatherland after three years of absence, and had made various journeys into other countries. I thought, therefore, that he would be the best man to apply to for information on the course of the White Nile ; I found him both intelligent and willing, and obtained the following description, which appears to me most worthy of credence : The Bahr-Abiad, or White Nile, flows through Runga, a country situated to the south of Darfour, to which kingdom it is tributary. The river is said to be very broad, but by no means deep, and even fordable by men or cattle. During the dry season, it is not navigable throughout, for in certain spots there is not enough water to float a boat, and the natives are only in few places provided with rafts. From Runga its course is directed towards Bakkara, then towards the country of the Jenky, Dynke, or