h so many porters a-head, saying he
demanded it of them, for the "great government's property" could not be
left on the ground. Their separate interests must now be sacrificed, and
their feuds suspended: and if he heard, on his return again, that one
village had taken advantage of the other's weakness caused by their
employment in his service, he would then not spare his bullets,--so they
might look out for themselves.

Some of the Turks, having found ninty-nine eggs in a crocodile's nest,
had a grand feast. They gave us two of the eggs, which we ate, but did
not like, for they had a highly musky flavour.

1st.--On the 1st of February we went ahead again, with Bukhet and the
first half of Mahamed's establishment, as a sufficient number of men
could not be collected at once to move all together. In a little while
we struck on the Nile, where it was running like a fine Highland stream
between the gneiss and mica-schist hills of Kuku, and followed it down
to near where the Asua river joined it. For a while we sat here watching
the water, which was greatly discoloured, and floating down rushes. The
river was not as full as it was when we crossed it at the Karuma Falls,
yet, according to Dr Khoblecher's [26] account, it ought to have been
flooding just at this time: if so, we had beaten the stream. Here we
left it again as it arched round by the west, and forded the Asua river,
a stiff rocky stream, deep enough to reach the breast when waded, but
not very broad. It did not appear to me as if connected with Victoria
N'yanza, as the waters were falling, and not much discoloured; whereas
judging from the Nile's condition, it ought to have been rising. No
vessel ever could have gone up it, and it bore no comparison with the
Nile itself. The exaggerated account of its volume, however, given by
the expeditionists who were sent up the Nile by Mehemet Ali, did not
surprise us, since they had mistaken its position; for we were now 3 deg.
42' north, and therefore had passed their "farthest point" by twenty
miles.

In two hours more we reached a settlement called Madi, and found it
deserted. Every man and woman had run off into the jungles from fright,
and would not come back again. We wished ourselves at the end of the
journey; thought anything better than this kind of existence--living
entirely at the expense of others; even the fleecings in Usui felt less
dispiriting; but it could not be helped, for it must always exist as
long a