_2nd January._—Selim Capitan now asserts that he navigated, in the first expedition, this arm of the Nile in which we are at present. That arm, from which, three days ago, we returned at night, would be, according to this statement, a tributary, or an arm, ending when the water falls in a cul-de-sac. But where is now the Muts, which was pointed out to us as a nearer Nile arm, and the beginning of which ought to have shewn itself?—for we saw already the mouth of it yesterday morning near the village of Bonn. At ten o’clock we go, by the rope, to E. by S. On the right, to the west, we remark an arm of the Nile, which can be no other than the commencement of the little one seen yesterday evening, pouring itself yonder from the east, when we were going E.N.E. It is a wonder that the Nile does not divide into far more arms in these level regions; although it may be presumed with certainty that many gohrs are lost in the reeds, or slink again to the river, without being visible by us. The stream goes from here S.E. and E., and we halt S.E. on the right shore. The river appears again to separate in front of us. I cannot help laughing when I hear the Reïs say to the lazy sailors, “Are you Muslems or Christians?” in order to tickle their sense of honour. Yet Nazrani is more a contemptuous expression for the Christian Rajahs than for Europeans, who are called Franks; although they abuse Arnaud and his vessel, by way of pre-eminence, with the title of “Nazrani,” because his conduct towards the men is very forbidding. From one to five o’clock in continued serpentine movements between S. and E. At half-past five o’clock, some minutes S.W. by S., and then again in an easterly direction. Throughout the day I was hot, languid, and sleepy, which I looked upon as the forebodings of fever, to which my three servants had already succumbed. Now I dread the night, and an incessant yawning gives me no sweet foretaste of the future. We work over the shallows from W. by S. to E.N.E., and sail lastly, after sunset, at half-past six o’clock, slowly in a bend to E.S.E., and immediately W.N.W., and in eight minutes S.S.E. We tried, by using oars, poles, and sails, to get to N.E., and then halted. Here we saw to the N.E. an arm of the Nile flowing to S., the mouth of which we ought to have seen yesterday, and it may therefore probably be the Muts. Subsequently, when all had gone to sleep, a violent habùb threw the ship on shore; but the wind soon veered to our advantage. Thermometer 18°, 26°, to 28°, and 25°.