Part of the people sat or stood there; only a few collected round our vessels. Many of them carried a long reed, instead of the spear, in their hands. They would not allow themselves to be measured, and continued to avoid me. I gave my servants three reeds of six, six and a half, and seven feet long, to stand near the natives, and by this means I ascertained their height. The average amounted to from six to seven Rhenish feet.[8] We ourselves were like pigmies among these giants. I might stretch myself to the utmost, but I could not come up to these men, though of the _considerable_ height of five feet, two inches, four lines. The village numbers only twenty-eight to thirty tokuls, and lies along the shore to S.S.E. We sail away at eight o’clock, and in five minutes find a herdsmen’s village on our right side, and immediately afterwards another, near which the river winds to E., and we advance with libàhn. It is a large pastoral village, and appears to belong, with the preceding ones, to Aujan. The few tokuls of Aujan must serve the herdsmen, in the rainy season, as a place of refuge, for they lie tolerably high. This morning, early, there were clouds in the sky, as is now generally the case; but still it is very warm, and we had, shortly before sunrise, 22° Reaumur. When I consider the endless labyrinths of the White Stream, and the eternal slackening of the winds, I fear that we shall never arrive at the sources of the White Nile. The stream is, as it were, without a border in the rainy season, and towing then is an impossibility, even if the south winds connected with it should not be violently against us. Yet I cannot resist the thought that it is not only possible to discover the sources, but also to scale the mountains lying to the south, of which all these tribes speak, and to pass over in some other stream territory to the Western Ocean. These thoughts occupy my mind when I sit at night before the cabin, and indulge in the reflection of such a bold undertaking, and one that would not be depreciated by the scientific world. My men are enraptured at such a proposal; but dare I confide in their courage? Yes, for if I did not, I should have turned them off long ago.