We had already seen and caught several snakes, and twice I saw how this reptile let itself be carried by the stream, coiling itself up and holding its head above water. Here a small blackish snake appeared, before which we threw a piece of wood, when it became irritated, and drove repeatedly against our vessel, although we thrust at it with poles. The first-named were mostly those I had already seen and made a collection of in Taka—the Naja Haje (Coluber Haje Hasslq.) Vipera Cerastes Daud, Python Subae, &c. The large snakes were generally called Assala, and the small ones sometimes _Hannesh_ and _Debib_, and sometimes _Dabàhn_. It is only the viper that has the name of Haigi among these people as its peculiar one. We had seen here and there in these marshes serpents which might be described as equal in bulk to a moderate tree. I had in Taka heard a similar comparison from Sheikhs whose word could be relied on; and also that the snakes were of such a size that they could easily carry a man from his angereb, and swallow him very comfortably. I remarked in the reeds many ant-hills, such as are seen in Taka; they were eight to ten feet high, but whether inhabited or not I cannot say. If they were so, their height might be explained by the supposition that the insects sought to protect themselves in their upper cells from the high water; that is, if the Nile did not formerly make another bend here, so as not to overflow this marsh-land. Besides, I had already had the opportunity of observing these termites and their ingenious strongholds, whereby I convinced myself that they are not very much afraid of the water; but, on the contrary, they descend deep into the earth, to fetch up damp soil, in order to give a smooth surface to the apparent labyrinth of their cells, which, in the lower part of their habitations, are as thick as one’s fist. These little whitish insects are also themselves full of water, and burst as soon as they are touched. These ants are called arda. They will perforate in one night, from the bottom to the top, a trunk filled with clothes, if it is not placed upon a _stone_; for they dread daylight, and are afraid to climb up stones on the earth. Owing to the ants, we, towards evening, left the shore, and anchored in the middle of the lake, which has a greater breadth in the direction of the west, and where only a few ants shewed themselves, and these, from the weight of the blood they had sucked in, were not able to fly away from the reeds, and had stuck to the ship. We remarked also a great number of glowworms among the reeds. Suliman Kashef sent me the sandal, and I repaired with Feïzulla Capitan to him.