Nevertheless every thing was soon prepared for the departure of the expedition. The north and north-east winds, although not constant, as is usually the case at the beginning of November, and which generally commence here after the rainy season, had invited us for a long time to take advantage of the high water, that threatened to engulf Khartùm at the end of September from both sides of the river. Nothing was wanting except the arrival of the two French engineers, who squatted two-and-forty days in Korusko, because Arnaud would not pay temporarily, out of his own pocket, for the hire of some camels, which they required over the number allowed to them in the Firman or teskerè, to convey their baggage through the desert. Sabatier, the younger of the Frenchmen, confessed to us, without disguise, that he, for his part, could not have paid for the camels, as he had already borrowed money from his colleague, Arnaud, before they reached Korusko; and he accused the latter of having unjustifiably delayed his journey, for the purpose of putting off the expedition till the following year, and to pocket the pay of a bimbaschi (major) during the interval, in spite of their beards. This is quite consistent with the character drawn of him by his own countrymen and the Franks. Eternal regret for the lost forty-two days! Without this delay, our voyage might have had quite a different result. [Illustration: 1 General form of the Tokuls in Bellet-Sudàn. 2 Tokuls of the Shilluks. 3 Tokuls of the Dinkas. 4 Tokuls of the Nuèhrs. 5 Summer-huts of the Kèks (pastoral dwellings of reeds). 6 Sleeping stall. 7 Tokuls of the Keks, also partly of the Bòhrs. 8 Tokuls of the Elliàbs. 9 Tokuls in the kingdom of Bàri (of the Bàris, Chiers, and Lièns).] CHAPTER II. COMPOSITION OF THE EXPEDITION. — AHMED BASHA; HIS CHARACTER. — SCENE BETWEEN MOHAMMED ALI AND SHEIKH SULIMAN OF ROSSÈRES. — SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE HUNTS. — SULIMAN EFFENDI, THE SICILIAN POISONER. — DEATH OF MUSTAPHA BEY. — VAISSIÈRE AND THE EUROPEANS IN EGYPT. — PUCKLER MUSCAU. — AHMED BASHA’S WIFE. — DESCRIPTION OF KHARTÙM. — BLUE AND WHITE NILE. — DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION. Khartùm, 23 Nov. 1840. The engineers have long since arrived, and at last, in spite of all the assumption and threats of Arnaud, whose intention of wilfully delaying the expedition could not be denied, and the motive of which is sufficiently shewn by Sabatier’s explanation, the Turks themselves determined to set out to-day. They were impelled to this activity by Ahmed Basha’s having given the strictest orders to make all despatch, “so that another expedition chargeable solely to the treasury of this place might not be necessary, as was perhaps the intention of the Franks.”