CHAPTER XTX.

THE FUXGIS.

Sennaar — Ethiopian r.iitiquit\- — The Blue Xile — Tlie Fimgis — Fertile soil — Fine-looking and good population — Death of the He Galantuonio — Flag hung with crape in the desert — Low water — Karkog — Trade — Roseres — Baobab — FazoglCi — Gold — Famaka — Anthropology — Revolution in the Galla country — Mount Agaro — The Tumat — Fires — Harif.

Sennaar consists of a few liuts, and a minaret which has partly escaped the decay of time. Here there ought to be the stamp of a grand past ; but, instead, there is the sad confirmation of the fact, that when a people is near the height of their glory, they disappear from the earth like a will-o'-the-wisp. On our journey from Khartoum to Sennaar we were not able to collect important notes, because, travelling by water, we could gain no considerable impressions of the countr} and*the people ; these we shall have shortly, when we take the land road across forests and mountains to open a road which will lead us to Fadasi.

The Blue Xile, we hasten to add, is much more attractive than the White Nile ; its banks are rich with tropical vegetation ; -its flora luxuriant and varied ; its abundant fauna rejoices the weary soul of the traveller. The air is pure, and the impression made by the people who inhabit its banks is that of a strong and somewhat fine-looking race. Perhaps these natives are the remains of the Ethiopian family, variously mixed and modified, but among whom the primeval type evidently predominates.