subject, and White Nile trader; here we found five noggurs belonging to
him and his partner. Binder's vakeel insisted upon giving a bullock to
my people. This bullock I resisted for some time, until I saw that the
man was affronted. It is impossible to procure from the natives any
cattle by purchase. The country is now a swamp, but it will be passable
during the dry season. Took equal altitudes of sun producing latitude 7
degrees 5' 46". The misery of these unfortunate blacks is beyond
description; they will not kill their cattle, neither do they taste meat
unless an animal dies of sickness; they will not work, thus they
frequently starve, existing only upon rats, lizards, snakes, and upon
such fish as they can spear. The spearing of fish is a mere hazard, as
they cast the harpoon at random among the reeds; thus, out of three or
four hundred casts, they may, by good luck, strike a fish. The harpoon
is neatly made, and is attached to a pliable reed about twenty feet
long, secured by a long line. Occasionally they strike a monster, as
there are varieties of fish which attain a weight of two hundred pounds.
In the event of harpooning such a fish, a long and exciting chase is the
result, as he carries away the harpoon, and runs out the entire length
of line; they then swim after him, holding their end of the line, and
playing him until exhausted. The chief of this tribe (the Kytch) wore a
leopard-skin across his shoulders, and a skull-cap of white beads, with
a crest of white ostrich-feathers; but the mantle was merely slung over
his shoulders, and all other parts of his person were naked. His
daughter was the best-looking girl that I have seen among the blacks;
she was about sixteen. Her clothing consisted of a little piece of
dressed hide about a foot wide slung across her shoulders, all other
parts being exposed. All the girls of this country wear merely a circlet
of little iron jingling ornaments round their waists. They came in
numbers, bringing small bundles of wood to exchange for a few handfuls
of corn. Most of the men are tall, but wretchedly thin; the children are