There axe two varieties of convolvolus growing here ;
also a peculiar gourd, which, when dry and divested of
its shell, exposes a vegetable sponge, formed of a dense
but fine network of fibres; the seeds are contained in
the centre of this fibre. The bright yellow flowers of
the ambatch, and of a tree resembling a laburnum,
are in great profusion. The men completely done : I
served them out a measure of grog. The “ Clumsy”
not in sight.
Jan. 8 th.—Waited all night for the “ Clumsy.” She
appeared at 8 a.m., when the reis and several men
received the whip for laziness. All three vessels
now rounded a sharp turn in the river, and the wind
being then favourable, we were soon under sail. The
clear water of the river from the Bahr el Gazal to this
point, does not exceed a hundred and twenty yards in
width. The stream runs at one and three-quarter
miles per hour, bringing with it a quantity of floating
vegetation. The fact of a strong current both above
-and below the Bahr el Gazal junction, while the lake at
that point is dead water, proves that I was right in my
surmise, that no water flows from the Bahr el Gazal
into the Nile during this season, and that the lake and
the extensive marshes at that locality are caused as
much by the surplus water of the White Nile flowing
into a depression, as they are by the Bahr el Gazal, the
w'ater of the latter river being absorbed by the immense
marshes.
Yesterday we anchored at a dry spot, on which grew
many mimosas of the red bark variety; the ground
was a dead flat, and the river was up to the roots of
the trees near the margin; thus the river is quite full
at this season, but not flooded. There was no watermark
upon the stems of the tre es; thus I have little
doubt that the actual rise of the water-level during the
rainy season is very trifling, as the water extends over
a prodigious extent of surface, the river having no
banks. The entire country is merely a vast marsh,
with a river flowing through the midst.
At this season last year I was on the Settite. That
great river and the Atbara were then excessively low.
The Blue Nile was also low at the same time. On the
contrary, the White Nile and the Sobat, although not
at their highest, are bank-full, while the former two are
fa il in g | this proves that the White Nile and the Sobat
rise far south, among mountains subject to a rainfall at
different seasons, extending over a greater portion of
the year than the rainy season of Abyssinia and the
neighbouring Galla country.
I t is not surprising that the ancients gave up the
exploration of the Nile when they came to the countless
windings and difficulties of the marshes ; the river