It is surprising that I have not hitherto seen any mouse-holes or mole-hills; the inundation and rains may be the cause of this, and we have not gone from the river into the interior of the country. The Schudder-el-Fas (axe-tree, _mimosa sensitiva?_) common in Bellet Sudan, is seen on the shore itself,—a shrub spreading like brambles, with small delicate acacia leaves, a similar sort of pods, flesh-coloured button-flowers, and barbed thorns. If its twigs be touched with an axe, or a knife, or merely knocked with the finger, its leaves immediately close (from fear, as the Arabs say) as if they were withered. I have not yet been able to procure ripe seeds of this shrub. M. Arnaud makes a section, but not where the water running upon a shallower place allows a more accurate calculation to be made, but there where the river is full,—namely, in these basins, in which the water underneath is stagnant, whilst that on the surface moves as slowly as we have seen the Atbara, which has the very same deep basins. The public will therefore read of a mighty mass of water, said to be carried by the Sobàt to the Nile: the breadth of the river amounts here, as below, to one hundred and thirty mètres. The section is therefore made, and we proceed at noon. The strong wind breaks in two the sail-yard of the vessel commanded by the Arnaut, Mohammed Aga, because Selim Capitan paid no attention to it, though it was rotten,—and so was the whole vessel. We land afterwards at our peninsula or sand-bank, where there is a settlement of six tokuls. The poor inhabitants of these little straw huts were perhaps those whom Thibaut observed when setting out from hence, and who covered the whole island like a swarm of flies; whereupon he slily retreated. I rather think that my European fellow-travellers are afraid of my being an eyewitness of their doings and acts, lest I should accuse them of falsehood, or laugh at them when they exaggerate some small circumstance, or pretend to have seen wonders, and gone through frightful adventures with courage: and yet they give all this out of their journals to their attentive listeners. It is really as good as a play to see them. Arnaud and Sabatier have separate cabins in the same vessel; and, as soon as one has gone on deck, ashore, or on board another vessel, the other tries to find out the hiding-place of his journal, in order principally to read what is said of him. If Arnaud abuses Sabatier, the latter gets in a rage; but on our persuasion rests satisfied with threats, and sits down and writes against Arnaud in his journal: then he leaves it carelessly lying about, and goes away directly Arnaud enters, and the latter, immediately his back is turned, seizes it and reads it. Thus they read their notes and diaries in secret, and then I have the pleasure of hearing all about it from Thibaut and Sabatier, who come on board my bark.