Those trees have astonished me by their strength, being about four feet in diameter, and by their powerful and now shady branches. The bark of the lower part of the trunk and the stronger boughs is of a dirty dark-brown colour; and the latter, together with the smaller branches, are like those of the lindentree. The small prickles are seen only sparingly on the boughs hanging down, and the whole present strength of the trees, which have been deserted by the water since our ascent, seems to lie more in the crisped and delicate foliage. The grass, which rose previously so luxuriantly from the water, lies now like a thick layer of straw; it appears to continue lying on the ground like the couch-grass—yet not in the proper sense of the word, for its roots are those of grass,—and, from time to time, to strike root, and also to stand up, if it has not been kept too long upright by the water, and its slender stalks have not grown too high. I have remarked this in many places, and seen both these species at the same time upon the very same root, the blades having been cropped every now and then, growing crisply, and standing upright on all sides; it might be, therefore, the savannah grass, and therefore I secured a specimen of this grass. I have not been able to ascertain whence the Shilluks and other tribes derive the little rice, which is also a species of grass. A specimen of the fruit is also in my possession; it comes up, perhaps, like wheat. The Shilluks do not seem to be very much afraid: they are ready to engage in barter, although they do not come quite close to us. Perhaps they think to drive us away first, by not supplying us with meat. _30th March._—There was an _enlightened_ assembly yesterday evening, on board Suliman Kashef’s vessel: all the lanterns of the Turks were lighted, and were fixed around it. There is nothing done now without light; we are recalled, therefore, from the chase by lanterns, even if it be only dusk. I proposed, yesterday, either to present ourselves _in propriâ personâ_ to the Mek, at his residence close by (said to be only two hours distant), or to receive him in the open air, if he could be persuaded to come, and not to invite him on board the vessels, according to the favourite custom, because in that case, he might probably turn back. They agreed with me, and—there the matter ended. The boats of the Shilluks exceed in size and solidity those of all the other tribes. This people also frequently place two trees together, and bind them together at the bottom by ropes. Their boats have long peaks, and carry twenty to thirty men, sitting in a line behind one another. The different colour of the bark of the talles—I had seen them previously red, and now of a palish green—seems to depend on the nature of the soil.