This nation of the Keks, or Kièks, appears, on the whole, to be numerous, and has a great sheikh, or king, by the name of Ajol. His city lies on the left side of the river, far from hence, near a stream, and is called Gog. Polygamy prevails here, as generally on the White Stream; only, however, the more opulent enjoy this privilege, for the women are bought. I remarked here, for the first time, bodily defects, which, like elephantiasis, are so very rare in the whole land of Sudàn. One had hernia, and many suffered from diseases of the eyes, and wanted medical assistance. Their eyes, indeed, were nearly all suffused with red, as I had previously remarked; and it seems that these people must suffer uncommonly in the rainy season, when they lie, as it were, in the morass. The hair of some of them, who wore it long, was of a reddish colour, having lost its natural black hue by the ley of the ashes and water, and heat of the sun; for we did not perceive this in the shorter hairs, and they did not know how to explain the cause of this tinge. The cattle are generally of a light colour, of moderate size, and have long beautifully-twisted horns, some of which are turned backwards. The bulls have large speckled humps, such as are seen in the hieroglyphics; the cows, on the contrary, only a little elevation on the shoulders. The small reed tokuls, with half-flat roofs, are neat, and serve throughout the day for protection against the sun. I wandered about here quite alone, without being molested or sent back by the people, although the whole crew on board believed, and our blacks agreed with them, that men and women live separate the greatest part of the year, and that man durst not enter into such a Harìm-village out of season. I must, however, differ in some measure with respect to this assertion; for I saw in some little tokuls of the male village, young women and children, crawling about upon the extended skins on the ground. [Illustration: MOUNT NERKONJIN, 22nd JANUARY, 1842.] A young woman was so enraptured at the sight of my glass beads, that she wanted to sell me her child, which she carried in a skin under her left arm, as if in a bag. I do not think that I am mistaken with regard to this offer, although one ought not to be confident that the daughter of a harmless nation like the Keks would do so. Perhaps she was a prisoner, which might be the case here generally, and that these women are watched by the men. It is always possible too, that the men take their favourite wives with them for comfort’s sake, and leave the others at home, or put them in some kind of bodily restraint.