The Island of Aba does not appear to be entirely inundated, and therefore, it is covered towards the interior with high grown wood. It is said, that there are several lions here; I think I saw one at a distance, but I did not pursue him. We saw large flocks of guinea-fowls, called here Gedàt el Pharaùn (Pharaoh’s fowls), and which provided us for some days with roast dainties. “Pharaùn” is a word of abuse, but it must have been taken rather from the Koràn than from tradition. I saw many foot-prints of Hippopotami in the muddy roads, which extend from the East westerly to the river, and were already dried up. The earth by that means was exceedingly fertile. Doghen, a kind of corn, commonly used in Kordofan,—bamie, a vegetable with pods, to be met with from hence up to Greece;—and Malochië, a species of spinnage, grow wild here. The numerous birds were very shy, which we attribute to our white dress and red caps. _1st December._—Half an hour before sun rise, we left the Island of Aba, and sailed E.S.E., and had a course of 2¼ miles; in the lapse of an hour this island was on our left. At half past eight o’clock, we had on our right an island, and on the left the shore was bare,—a Steppe, with a few trees and copsewood. The ground beyond and through the trees glimmered, equally bare and waste, of a yellow colour. This eternal shifting of the islands, and winding of the vessel, frequently perverts the look and the prospect of the whole scenery. The Lotus,—the grass extending itself over the water,—and the high reed grass, filled the space between the trees. At nine o’clock S.S.W., we pass the Machada Abu Seïd, before which we have a course of 4½ miles, and immediately afterwards only 3 miles. At this place, where the stream, owing to the rocks crossing from E. to W. forms an inconsiderable current, the water is only 1½ to 2 fathoms deep, and when low, reaches only up to the knee,—a circumstance which must be taken into account for our return voyage. Machada Abu Seïd, is equivalent to “Ford of Abu Seïd,” who, being the patron of navigators, is invoked on the most trivial occasions, like Abd el Kader, by the Bedouins of the desert. It is pretended that this same Abu Seïd crossed the water with his large army, and subdued the people of this place; many stories are also told of him, how he has assisted navigators in their need. Above this ford or reef, on which entire masses of the _Etheria tubifera_ (Caill) have settled, we passed over the Machada el Ans, which means “Goat’s Ford;” because, in the dry season of the year, even goats can walk through here, when they are thrown by the herdsmen into the water, from one rock to the other.