_27th February._—At half-past seven we set ourselves in motion to N.N.W., and soon N.W. Not a negro is to be seen here: the country appears, even at a distance, to have no population or settlement. Perhaps Nature thinks fit to give a long preparation to these regions, in order to elevate the alluvial deposits for the habitation of man, and to form the stream territory, and thus to realise the principles of humidity; or all this land is subject to a deluge, and tracts, which are now deserts, have become dry. Truly it might be the work of thousands of years to dry up an inland sea, such as that between the mountain terrace of Fàzogl, and the mountains of Kordofàn, towards the sources of the White Stream,—to extend it, with unknown ramifications, through the mountains of Bari to Habesch and Darfur, or Fertit, &c., and at last to break down at the Nile valley, near Khartùm, those barriers which display themselves there in solitary rocky hills and mountains. Eight o’clock, from N.W. by N. with a fair south-westerly wind to W. A quarter after eight, W.N.W.; the wind freshens, and we make six miles. Half-past eight, in a bend to N., and further to S.E. A quarter before nine o’clock to N.W., and on to N.N.W.: on the right an isolated dhellèb in the reeds. Nine o’clock, in a flat arch again to N. by E.: on the right a village, with extremely low tokuls. On the left we remark another elephant-tree, and at a quarter of an hour distant, on the right, a forest. A quarter after nine o’clock.—N. by W. and E.: on the right a lake, with a village, at a short distance from the shore. The lake cuts off, near the Haba, that large angle formed by the river, and belonging therefore to the primitive bed. The poison-trees make me recognise that scanty forest where we landed previously. With a sharp turn from E. over N. to W. by S., and immediately at half-past nine o’clock, W.N.W., and further round an arch of reeds in narrow water to E.N.E., where we stumble again upon the Haba. A quarter before ten, we double a corner N.W. by N., and in a flat arch to W.; seven miles.