_1st April._—Now that I know something of the country of the Shilluks, which on the whole, perhaps, only amounts to a tract of shore, the conquest of it, as well as of the land of the Dinkas, does not appear to me very difficult from this side, even if the Shilluks were determined to offer real resistance. The army could defile (that is, in the dry season) along the shores up the stream, and cover the towing-path, which is necessary here, owing to the south winds, and the vessels could carry the provisions; there is no Haba either to fear here, as in Taka. Certainly such an expedition would be only to press soldiers, or perhaps also to subdue the whole country; for as to other treasures, they are not to be acquired, except the large herds, from which the future tribute might be drawn. If Ahmed Basha, however,—for I have him in my eye,—could once raise an army of these black devils of Shilluks and Dinkas, whom he himself allows to possess the greatest courage, _then_ he might think of other and more profitable conquests. That broad, choked-up gohr, of which I spoke previously, seems to continue, and perhaps does so always with the old high shores, which, however, may be distant enough. They are now invisible on both sides, and the new shores are mutually of the same height as they have been for some days. Notwithstanding this, I must still assert that the Dinka land lies higher than that of the Shilluks, and that both the barrenness of the former and the dense wood of the country on the left shore are derived from this cause. On the other hand I have altered the opinion expressed on the ascent, that we ought to keep in view only the old or high shores, in composing a map; although it would be extremely instructive to mark them on the charts, for the present shores are high enough here at least—about five or six, and up to ten feet at our landing-place—to be considered as shores. We make the bend from N.E. to E., and the Gebl-el-Dinka or Defafaùngh seems to peep forth down the river before us, but it is only a delusion. The villages, or rather the long-tailed city of the Shilluks, Jemmati, Gennap, called by the Arabs therefore perhaps Dennap, advances with its groups of houses and forest to the margin of the river, and crowds of people have collected shortly below our landing-place. We halt at the left shore a little before sunset, which is at present charmingly decorated with grass and trees; the former, however, only below on the flat strand.