Towards eleven o’clock the wood on the right shore opened, and some tokuls were visible on the shore, at a little distance from the river, on a line of hills running parallel with it, and standing near those dome-palms we had hitherto missed, with the exception of the young copse on the water’s edge. The cultivation of dates, which might really be a blessing to the country, in Sennaar, as well as in the extraordinarily fertile Taka, is entirely neglected, although the gardens near the city of Sennaar, like those numerous gardens in Khartùm, afford examples of a very advantageous transplanting in these southern regions. They will doubtless give a refreshing appearance to the latter melancholy-looking city by their rich crowns of fruit, when they once rise over the clay walls and houses surrounding it. But the people, that they may escape the taxes imposed on every date-tree bearing fruit, will not plant and take care of them; neither will they cultivate cotton, because they are obliged to deliver the produce into the Shune at an arbitrary price. Ahmed Basha had 6000 young date-palms brought up by water from Sokkot and Mahass. The ground he chose in his caprice to form a close plantation in, with these trees, lay too low (for he wanted to save the expense of irrigation), and the Nile overflowing it, uprooted and choked with its slime the fine young stems. No Turk thought of washing the slime off and planting them again. The Basha did not grieve at this abortive work, and was even of opinion that the Nile had done well, for the lazy people of the island (Sennaar) would never work again if they once had dates, as is the case in the country of the Baràbras, who could never be good soldiers (askari).