I20 Seven Years in the Soudan.

banks of the river to the Jieight of fifty feet were covered with rich vegetation, and below we saw fringes of grass and ])a})yrus. The average depth of the water was from twelve to twentv-fonr feet ; it was muddy and full of fragments of plants and dead branches. There Avere a great many hippopotami, and these animals proved dangerous at night. The current is variable ; in some parts the water seemed almost stagnant and in others it ran Avith a velocity of two miles and a half an hour. The hostility of the natives did not permit us to approach near, but we Avere always followed and kept in sight by some hundreds. I could scarcely get rid of them, but I determined if possible not to provoke them.

We came on the 2nd of April in sight of the Falls. It was a stupendous spectacle. The green heights around ; the rocks emerging from the flood which falls from a great height ; the mist produced by the foaming Avaters, AA'hite as snoAv ; the deafening roar, held me for some moments in an ecstasy. Op})Osite to the waterfall two rocks of a pyramidal form, Avhich one Avould take to be the AA'ork of man, rose to a height of tAventy feet. Meanwhile the inhabitants of the surrounding: villages requested permission to approach us and sell pro\dsions. After much discussion they AA'ent back to their Aillage, and returned with chickens and flour and Avithout arms in sign of peace. I succeeded in learning that "Wad-el-Mek Avas at Anfina, that Missindi Avas eA'acuated by the troops, and that the soldiers of Kaba Rega Avere in the neighbourhood of ]\Iagungo. I asked if I might speak to the Sheikh, and they promised that I should.

It is twenty-seA'en miles from the mouth of the riAer to the Falls, and I do not know why the maps mark it at only tAvehe and a half.

At seAen in the morning of the 3rd of April the Sheikh arriAed, and I asked him for a man who