Extract from Journal.

KHARTUM, Dec. 27th, 1857.-After long preparations at Khartum, I embarked at 4 P. M. in a large "dahabyeh" with three latine sails, a crew of twenty sailors, forty armed Arabs as a guard, and three dinkas, or liberated slaves, as interpreters; another boat with ten sailors and twenty armed men, had preceded me as early as October, which I expected to find at the point of debarkation.

Dec. 28th.-Passed Gotaena, a small village on the east bank, where, by irrigation with the ordinary Egyptian water-wheel, called sakyeh, a little land is cultivated during the winter months only by the Arab population, assisted by slave labor, the produce of which is wheat.

Dec. 29th. We arrived at Wallad Shellai at about 9 A. M. The country, with the exception of two islands on which wheat is cultivated, is on both sides generally sandy. In some places, stretching up into the interior, the soil is argillaceous, and consequently richer, supporting large herds of cattle, goats, and sheep, belonging to the Hassanyeh, a tribe of nomade Arabs inhabiting both sides of the river. The Hassanyeh, in stature and beauty, particularly the females, are superior to any other Arab tribe with which I have met. Their habits are certainly most peculiar, for they consider the marriage tie binding but for four days in every week, namely, from Monday to Thursday inclusive, while during the remaining three, both husband and wife are independent of each other, and "sans reproche.'

Dec. 30th.-A group of mountains of volcanic origin, Jebel Araschkol, west of the river, and some six miles distant, was in our rear, as also Dabassi, one of the last of a group of cultivated islands appertaining to the Egyptian dependencies. At sunset we were at Eleis, a small village on the eastern bank, and the last of the Egyptian settlements on the White River, being about 1339 N. latitude.

Dec. 31st.-The country on both sides uninhabited; the soil gravelly and poor, but the banks well studded with trees of the mimosa tribe.

Jan. 1st, 1858.-Both banks still continue thickly wooded with very fine mimosa, the soil rich. In the afternoon passed between islands also magnificently wooded, all with the same kind of tree as described; among which the common small blue monkey abounded. One of these islands was inhabited by a fowlluk fishermen.

Jan. 2d, 3d, and 4th-No settled habitations on either side of the river. he Dinka negro tribe inhabit the interior, east of the river, and in summer only, when the water is scarce, approach the river with their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep.

The Se'aem Bagara nomade Arab tribes inhabit, during the summer months, the western side of the river, and obtain a livelihood from the proceeds of their large herds of cattle, elephant-hunting, and by pillaging the Dinka negro tribe, carrying off their children into slavery, whom they sell to the neighboring hilltribes to the west, and to the Arab tribes bordering on Kordofan.

Jan. 5th.-At 7 A. M. arrived at Kaka, a large village of the Shilluks, about half a mile from the western bank. There is a good market here, well attended by the Selaem Arabs, who bring yarn and a coarse cloth for sale. The negroes offer bullocks, sheep, goats, fowls, excellent capons, maize, millet, cotton, sezame, ground-nuts, &c., in exchange for glass beads, which the Arab women

will also readily accept for milk, butter, eggs, &c. Very neat small colored mats are likewise manufactured and sold by the negroes, who, while bartering with us, were kept in order by some of the officials of the king, whose residence is at Daenab, a few miles south of this.

The Shilluks compose one of the largest tribes bordering on the river; their territory extending nearly two degrees southward, and fully as far north, although in the latter direction they have no permanent settlement.

The Dinka tribe, their deadly enemy, occupies the eastern Nile bank, but are exclusively nomadic in their habits. Not so the Shilluks, who inhabit large villages, wherein their well made corical huts of reeds are crowded close together, and present from the river a picturesque appearance. Their language is a vernacular, common to both of these tribes. The Shilluks are the best governed of any tribe I have seen. Their king exercises a strict authority over them, and inflicts severe punishments for offences. He does not go abroad, and when approached in his hut, it must be on their knees, as no person dares stand erect in his presence. He is addressed through his officials in attendance, and his answers are also conveyed through them.

Both the Shilluk and Dinka tribe extract the lower front teeth from children of both sexes, when at the ages of eight or nine, but circumcision is not practised.

I have never been able to learn that either of the tribes entertained any definite idea upon the subject of religion. The only individual at all resembling a priest is the rain-maker, who is supposed to enjoy supernatural powers. He is only applied to in times of extreme drought, and so little is he respected that, if he fails to produce the desired rain, he is ill-treated, beaten, and in danger of his life, which he is fortunate in preserving by concealment in the bush until after a heavy fall of rain.

Having purchased a few sheep, fowls, eggs, &c., at 10 A. M. we were again under sail, and in the evening were passing the large island of Daenab. The western side of the river is thickly inhabited, village after village appearing in quick succession, and, in many instances, but five minutes' walk apparently between them. Among these villages is that of Gova, under which, at 4 P. M., we made fast, when, long before we approached the shore, the chief, Dood, with a crowd of aborigines, men, women, and children, was waiting to receive

me.

I had employed Dood to purchase ivory for me on several occasions during the intervals of my expeditions, and had always found him a good friend and trustworthy. On this occasion he was more than usually glad to see me, and, finding that his labors in my behalf had been crowned with more than ordinary success, I intimated to him, that if he would come down quietly the next morning, with his sons only in attendance upon him, I would make him a suitable present, and add a trifle to each of his sons; but that just then I could not do so, on account of the great number of attendants and idlers in his company, all of whom would expect to participate more or less in the gifts he would receive. Jan. 7th.-Before sunrise Dood, with a crowd of men and striplings behind him, with their inseparable accompaniments of clubs and lances, were sitting on the bank of the river, at a short distance from the boat, waiting my appearance on deck; upon which a rush was made at me, with cries of "the Benj, the Benj," (the chief, the chief,) and salutations too numerous to mention. As soon as the vociferations had subsided, Dood, disembarrassing his mouth

with some difficulty of a quid of tobacco, the size of a small orange, seated himself near me on the deck, and motioned me condescendingly to a seat beside him. On inquiry what he meant by bringing with him so many men, most of whom I had never recollected to have before seen, he answered, "True, you have not yet seen the whole of my family; but, owing to your having promised to give each of my sons something on quitting you last evening, I sent to the Kraals; and here before you are all my fighting sons;" and, with the pride of a father, told me that he could depend upon them in any emergency, as his neighbors on the opposite side of the river, the Dinka, could certify. Although knowing something of negro families, I was still not a little surprised to find that his valiant progeny amounted to forty fine grown up young men and hearty striplings. Upon congratulating him, "Yes," he replied, "I did not like to bring the girls and little boys, as it would look as if I wished to impose upon your generosity." "What!" I exclaimed, "more little boys! and how many girls?-what may be the number of your wives and family?" "Well," said he, "I have divorced a good many wives; they get old, you know; I have only now ten and five, making fifteen!" But when he came to count the number of his children, he was obliged to have recourse to a reed, which, breaking up into small pieces, he said, "I never take notice of babies, as they may die in the rearing; women are so foolish about children, and I never care for them until they are able to lay a snare and take care of themselves." Then, as a negro cannot count beyond ten, be began calling over a string of names; and when he arrived at the end of his arithmetic, placed a piece of reed on the deck before him, recommencing another piece of reed, equivalent to a second ten, and so on, until he had counted over and marked the whole of the males; after which he dotted down the female members of his happy family; the sum total of which, leaving out babies and children unable to care for themselves, according to our numerics, amounted to fifty-three boys and twenty girls, which on inquiry I found to be correct. Having been afterwards favored with an introduction to the ladies, each in a separate batch of huts, I had a farther opportunity of complimenting this still sturdy chief on the beauty of his youthful wives, and also on the graduated scale of the various proofs of their affection towards him. Having spent a very pleasant day with my friend at Gova, I got sail on the dahabyeh before sunset, and passed on through a level country agreeably interspersed with trees. The bifurcated palm and another kind of tall palm, called by the Arabs " delaeb," are frequent, as also is the " heglig;" the mimosa on the other hand is becoming rare.

At 7 P. M. passed the mouth of the Sobat, where it is about 100 yards wide, and has been navigated for a distance of perhaps 200 miles, when it is found to divide itself into three branches: the principal one, still navigable, coming from the northeast, is supposed to have its source in the Galla country; the other two branches, the one flowing from the east and the other from the southeast, are only navigable during the inundations, and supposed to have their origin among the Bari, a dark-brown, well-made race, fond of ornament and of something resembling clothing.

At 10 P. M. we passed another branch of the Nile, flowing from the southeast, scarcely half the size of the Sobat, called the Giraffe River. This also navigable stream drains the eastern Nile bank, and in every sense of the word is a branch of the White River, from which it detaches itself in the territory of the Bir tribe, at 50 N. lat. The large island between it and the White River

is covered with thick bush, and is a favorite resort for herds of elephants. White antelopes, buffaloes, giraffes, and rhinocerı, afford an occasional diversion from the more exhilarating sport—at least to an ivory trader—of elephantshooting; and even at night, when sleep would be a relief, excitement is not wanting to drive off a few disgusting hyænas, or sometimes a lion or lioness with her overgrown cubs, which, in spite of watch-fires, will not unfrequently intrude upon the precincts of the hunter's privacy, when often a louder roar than one would think necessary, or at least agreeable, will, in spite of themselves, operate instanter upon less experienced followers, and, without reflec tion, bring them with a start to their feet.

Jan. 7th and 8th.--We continued steering west, with a little norting, say from 50 to 100, until, at 11 A. M., we arrived at a large basın, the White Nile flowing into it from the south, while we steered out of it west by 400 north. We now entered the channel of the lake, called the Bahr el Gazal, by which its surplus waters are discharged into the Nile. The current out of the lake into the White River I estimated at about a quarter of a mile per hour, the width of the channel being about 40 yards, and the depth 15 to 20 feet.

Soon after entering it, a large sheet of water overgrown with reeds, apparently dead water, is visible, stretching to the south and west, divided by a narrow tongue of land running between it and the channel we navigate, along its northern bank, which, as far as the eye can reach, is low, covered with coarse grass, and apparently uninhabited.

Jan. 9th.-At 9 A. M., two villages belonging to a very warlike tribe of regroes, the "Nouaer," on the northern bank are the only habitations visible. This tribe inhabits also the eastern Nile bank, to a considerable extent into the interior, and carries on warfare among the neighboring Dinka tribes, taking off their cattle and children, and spreading devastation wherever they penetrate; they are also famous elephant-hunters.

'The men of this tribe plait their hair Arab fashion, and plaster it over with a thick coat of potter's clay, which at a distance gives them the appearance of wearing helmets.

Jan. 10th.—In many places the surface of the water is covered with beautiful te lilies, of large dimensions, and beneath is a plant displaying a fine network resembling moss, the fibres of which are long and delicately interwoven, plainly visible to a considerable depth, owing to the great clearness of the water.

At sunset we were entering on an immense expanse of water, for the most part covered with reeds, about 2 feet above the surface, and bending with the wind, among which appeared at different points open pieces of water. This Jake is the accumulation of numberless rivulets and streams, the largest of which, flowing from the southwest, is in itself a considerable river, and were it not for the density of the high and strong reeds, completely blocking up its connexion with the lake, it would be navigable for a very considerable distance into the interior.

The Bahr el Gazal may truly be called the home of the balinaeceps and hippopotami; in such great numbers do the latter occasionally appear with their heads above the water, that one would think a passage through them impossible; and so fierce are they, that on more than one occasion I had literally to fight my way through them; even attempts at boarding were made, which only a liberal distribution of ball, discharged into their open gullets, could effectually prevent. As may be supposed, the sport was great, although

the amount bagged was not as much as might be anticipated, owing to a desire of losing as little time as possible; one or two carcases supplied the crews of my boats with soups, steaks, &c., though perhaps not exactly "à la mode.”

Jan. 11th.-Continued navigating a wide open channel in the reeds against the slight current. Some clusters of trees are visible northwards, but whether on an island or on shore we could not distinguish.

Jan. 12th.-At noon, view low land westward, and, in the afternoon, we are sailing up a channel a mile across, with low land on either side, where the current is stronger than heretofore.

Jan. 13th.-At 10 A. M., after following the channel above described, and winding about almost from north to south, the water again expands both east and west; but south we are approaching land, and at 11 A. M. make fast our boats at the island of Kyt, which is about two miles long, and half a mile wide, and separated from the shore by a channel of about 60 yards in width. Having now sailed five days and nights since leaving the Nile, I consider to have made good 300 miles, at the average of 60 miles per day; but owing to the tortuous course of the navigation, I should deduct three-eighths for windings, which would place the navigable extremity of this lake about 180 miles from its connexion with the White River. The width I am not prepared to judge so correctly, but am inclined to think it not to exceed one third of that extent in its widest part.

With the means at my disposal it would be presumptuous to be positive about latitudes, but from the notes of my boat's steering, and a rough guess at distances, taking for granted D'Arnaud's statement that the mouth of the Bahr el Gazal is in 90 11" N., I believe the island of Kyt to be about 80 N. latitude. Jan. 14th.-In company with the boat that I had sent in advance, my dahabyeh being, from former visits, well known to the natives, a large number of them came down from the interior for the purpose of conducting me to my station at the Djour, when I appointed the 17th as the day when I should require them. My sailors, glad to have ended their voyage, cleared the decks and kept up dancing to the sound of the tarbouka, and clapping their hands to the measure, until a late hour; the donation of a few bottles of arrack greatly increased the general conviviality.

Jan. 17th.-Made a start at 8 A. M., with 52 negroes as porters, of the Raik tribe, in whose territory we were, carrying glass beads, provisions in baskets, and my personal baggage on their heads, and 38 of my own men, exclusive of two Dinka interpreters, all well armed with muskets or fowling pieces.

At 11 A. M. halted at the village of Con-Quel-a-Ken (stationary or fixed,) near a pool of stagnant water, which, the day being hot, both Arab and negro appeared to enjoy.

Having refreshed ourselves under the shade of some large sycamore trees, we broke up at 3 P. M., and at sunset arrived at Moi Chin (give it me in my hand,) in which village we were well received by the inhabitants, who, in exchange for small black and white beads, called akoitsh, readily supplied us with maize, fire-wood, water, mats, and straw to sleep upon.

The chief, or Benj, and some of the elders, expressed the pleasure they felt at again seeing me, by spitting on the palm of my right hand, and in my face, which compliment, to their great satisfaction, I returned with interest. At an early hour, the watch-fires being lit, and guards set, the greater part of my men were soon fast asleep.