There cannot be much worship of trees here, for the neighbouring villages have not any shady trees; although these splendid tamarinds, with a trunk of five to six feet thick, and dense foliage, to the foot of which moreover the water reaches, as we see by the foot-prints of the Hippopotami, which serve me as an arm-chair, certainly deserve care and gratitude. But there was very little cleanliness at the place where we were sitting (to be silent of the ground being trod smooth by men), and the boughs of the trees did not shew any marks of consecration; there might have been, perhaps, about one thousand head of black birds sitting on them. We proceeded afterwards along the dry margin of the lake to the two layers of rocks projecting from the ground, wherein we recognise basalt, also porous, but displaying great hardness on breaking off the upper crust. I dare not decide whether this lake be not an extinct crater choked up by the Nile, similar to the Laacher See on the Rhine. Girard, who has examined my specimens, says indeed truly,—“The mountain is clearly an extinct volcano. It rises probably from a basaltic plateau, for basalt, olivine, and pyroxene appear on it, and red-brown porous lava, with large circular hornblende crystals, as well as dark blue tophus, formed from clear porous scraps of lava and fine ashes, seem to cover its declivity. The tophus, as well as the lava, does not contain any vitreous feldspar, yet pumice stone shews itself under them, but all the products of the volcano prove that it is only converted basalt.” Everything was therefore collected here to form a frontier-fortress; but perhaps it is reserved for another age to see a new Nigritia flourishing under the auspices of an enterprising man, who has money, and will undertake men-hunts. Certainly, by that means, the whole country would be deprived of the free and independent negroes; who, notwithstanding their poverty, will not enlist for gold and silver. They even prefer to remain in the old state, for they love old customs, even if they have seen or been obliged to have better ones. One example will suffice for many. Several Dinka slaves deserted from Fàzogl, who had been made craftsmen, taking with them all the implements of their trade. They appear, however, to have done the latter, not on account of the greater usefulness of such tools, but merely for the sake of the iron, to make spears or bracelets of it: this, at least, our soldiers and Dinkas affirmed. Some of the deserters were also shipwrights, but yet we have never seen a boat, although it would be so useful to them in their marauding expeditions.