bullocks, on their way from Gubsharee and Soudan. The people were busily floating their goods over the river on rafts, made of bundles of reeds; but there being too few in number to transport our baggage, it was necessary to make new rafts for ourselves. We therefore pitched our tents ; and one man was sent by each of the Arab merchants to cut long reeds, which are readily made into rafts, by lashing bundles of them across two long poles. I proceeded two or three miles up the banks of the river, which last summer did not contain a drop of water. The lower road certainly exhibited the appearance of being overflowed during the rains ; but nobody, from merely seeing it in that state, could suppose that for nearly one half of the year it is a broad sheet of water, or that the upper road itself is traversed, for the same period, by several large streams falling into the Yow. The ferry-dues, paid to the people who swim over with the rafts, are a rotal for every camel load of goods : the rotal is now merely nominal, and represents a pound of copper, eight or ten of which are equivalent to a Spanish dollar. The bullocks, horses, and camels, are made to swim over, together with the negro slaves. Dec. 20,—Hitherto the atmosphere had been clear and serene, but to-day it became hazy, and was particularly cold about day-break. Hadje Ali, the invalid alluded to, having a very large raft, we ferried over our baggage upon it without the smallest accident, by means of a rope fastened to each end. It was far otherwise with the Arabs a little lower down the river ; there was nothing but hubbub and bustle among them : many, through ignorance or obstinacy, had their goods much damaged. The greatest difficulty was with the camels and female slaves; the women screamed and squalled with great vehemence ; several of the men seemed almost in as great a panic as the ladies, especially those of Fezzan, none of whom could swim; and some of them jumped off the raft into the water three or four times, before they could muster courage to cross. The camels occasioned a great deal of trouble, one man having to swim before with the halter in his teeth, while, another kept beating the animal behind with a stick, which every now and then attempted to turn back, or bobbed its head under water. Before all had crossed, it was too late to continue our journey that day; we therefore encamped on the west bank for the night. Dec. 21.—We still travelled along the upper grounds, on account of the extent of the inundation. Yet the earth itself was so dry, that we were put in some slight danger by a kafila, near Old Birnee, carelessly setting the grass on fire in the course of the night: the fire advanced rapidly, like a sea of flame, and must have put us all to flight had we not had the good fortune to obtain shelter within the ruined walls of the city, which checked a little the progress of the conflagration. We did not halt, however, but continued our route to a town called Bera, on the banks of a beautiful lake, likewise formed by the overflowing of the Yow. Immediately there was quite a fair in our camp, the townswomen coming with gussule or Guinea corn, bean straw, cashew nuts, and milk; which they offered in exchange for glass beads and gubga, or native cloth. The beads in greatest request are pretty large, of a chocolate colour, with a small spiral white ring round the middle, and are called by the natives conteem- balee, or Muckni; the latter appellation is derived from a sultan of Fezzan of that name, who was originally a merchant, and first brought these beads into fashion. A single bead .exchanged for a quart of Guinea corn. The gubga is narrow cotton cloth, of native manufacture, about a palm in width; forty fathoms of which are usually valued at a dollar. The value of commodities in barter seems to be maintained with a certain stability, somewhat like the money rate of exchange in Europe, by fixing a local standard price for those articles in greatest demand, in lieu of the fictitious par of exchange, which, with us, powerfully influences and indirectly regulates all money ♦transactions. Dec. 22.—We crossed over a neck of land formed by a bend of
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