They related, likewise, more credible histories of their country; how their capital city, Nausùd, stands upon a high, impregnable rock, where the Sultan Haidar resides, and has six Bashas under him; that all the warriors wear armour, and are mounted, and that the mountaineers themselves have _never_ been subdued. Then they spoke of their manner of hunting, and their hawking for hares and gazelles, and said that a good falcon costs 2000 piastres. They suffer no Jews to reside in their state, and assert that the latter kill and drink the blood of prisoners, when they happen to be Krat (Kurds). At half-past four Selim Capitan returned to us, because he thought some accident must have happened; the ships which had preceded having waited for us three hours. Feizulla Capitan, with the same zeal that he read, a short time ago, the Koràn, so that he neither heard nor saw, now sits at his tailoring, and lets the crew do what they like. They therefore never think of exerting themselves and seizing the oar, but draw the vessel forward on the reeds, slinging a rope round it to tow it. We had scarcely made one mile, when the river wound towards the right side from E. by S. to S.S.E., and we saw beyond the reeds, projecting in a sharp angle, the other vessels with their glittering sails. That the reeds have sufficient strength to encroach in this manner on the path of the river, or that a counterpressure from the left shore, although no tributary stream is visible in the neighbourhood takes place, indicates the weakness of the current. So far it is established, that if a straighter bed here could be assigned to the river, by removing the reeds, it would have a fall, and, by that means, a more rapid flow. These marsh lakes might be made dry at certain seasons of the year, and an immeasurable, fertile, low country would be gained, such, perhaps, as exists not elsewhere in the world. And this cutting through of the reeds does not lie beyond the reach of possibility, if once ideas of cultivation of land spread even here. Some miserable tokuls, on small elevated spots, peep out from the reeds; their vicinity to snakes, gnats, and other vermin, is not to be envied. We follow the course of the river, at four o’clock, towards S.S.W., and set three more oars on, without Feïzulla Capitan’s orders. Again there is contention among the blacks, who are of different tribes. Prince Mariàn, the serjeant, lashes away in a very vigorous manner between them, with his nabùt, and by his simple look calms the wild, inflamed passions of these Negroes, which neither the Captain, nor Abd-Elliab (if even the latter had been still on board), could have succeeded in doing. They have all a peculiar _veneration_ for this man, whom they call their _Mak_, and he had needs only express a wish, and it would go hard with us whites.