392 Seven Years in the Soudan.

tlie Balir-el-Arab, but it would take four hours of uninterrupted navigation to reach them. Our provisions are almost finished ; my advice was not listened to, and instead of being economical from the beginning the soldiers' Avives crowded the galley and cooked day and night. Our only hope, in case of famine, is to find among the cane the plant called sutep, which looks like an artichoke, and is full of seeds smaller than millet ; it would do instead of doora. But it is impossible to find any near the steamer, and the soldiers already begin to chew the sweet bulrushes, some of which cause swellings of the gums, feet, etc.

Odoher 10th. — About four thousand fixe hundred feet in advance of us the water is free, and we hoped to overcome this immense bar in three days ; but we are disappointed, for to-day a formidable tempest burst over us, followed for two hours by hail of an extraordinary size, Avhicli fell with such violence that, in a few seconds, a goat which had been left unsheltered, was killed. The deck was covered with hail to the depth of nearly a foot, for there was such a quantity that the heat could not melt it.

This bar has been an unfortunate circumstance for us, as it dragged other bars away from the sides of the river, and surrounded us as if with a wall. The free way in front has closed again, and even from the mast top we cannot clearly perceive where the river is free. I am very uneasy about the future, and busy thinking what can be done for our safety. To turn back is as difiicult as to go on. It is impossible to send messengers to ask for help, for both shores of the Bahr-el-Ghazal are populated with savage tribes, warlike, and enemies of the Xuer. There is nothing to be done but persevere and try to reach the woods of the Bahr-el-Arab, where we may perhaps find sutep and bacium.

The numerous hippopotami which I met with on