_4th April._—To-day again the wind is contrary. We go this morning N., with easterly deviations, and in the afternoon N.E., with a few declinations. There are several villages on the left shore; we halt at the right, and the Shilluks retreat. Suliman Kashef confirms to day what I had already heard, viz., that the Shilluks worship a tree. They call it by the general name of Nigàma, which is said to have been introduced by the Great Sheikh, their ancestor, the founder of their union as a tribe, the father of the nation, and their law-giver. Almost every village has such a Nigàma, which is generally a sunt-tree. The place round it is enclosed, and the ground is kept very clear. On any misfortune occurring, the Shilluks throw themselves on their face, under the tree, and call and cry for assistance. It is considered identical with the holy founder of their race. Whether he ordered them to act in counsel after his death under a tree, and to complain to him; or appointed the tree as a mediator, through which they might converse with him; or, lastly, he may have been buried under such a tree, which thus became an object of veneration; and subordinate Nigàmas spread then with the increase of population. Moreover, the holy circuit of the Nigàma affords an asylum even to the enemy, and also to snakes, toads, and other animals, which are even considered sacred during their abode there, and fed with milk. A similar canonization of rats and mice is represented in the Egyptian temples. The Shilluks hang cows’ tails, tufts of hair, &c., on the Nigàmas, as sacrifices. The germ of gratitude is undeniably planted in the heart of human beings, as in that of animals; and the man of nature who does not enter into more abstruse speculations will not destroy what does good to him, but, on the contrary, foster and cherish it; then comes love, and gradually veneration is paid to it. Idolatry, though often made absurd and laughable enough by superstition and individual notions, may have arisen originally from natural instinct, and is, perhaps, spread throughout all the countries on the Nile, though we have not been able to obtain satisfactory information on this subject from want of a dragoman, even had he only been slightly intelligent, and able to comprehend the questions properly. But this much appears certain, that the object of veneration among these nations does not dwell high in heaven. They had no knowledge of the worship of a Supreme Being. Perhaps their gods stand around them, or walk friendly with them, and eat out of their cribs. Even beasts, injurious or fatal to man, may receive gratitude and veneration from them in return for some instance of magnanimity. Thermometer 20°, 29°, and 28°.