The inundation rises through the entire forest, the earth is cracked far and wide, and not a spike of grass is to be seen under the sunt, of which the forest of the Shilluks consists, with few exceptions. But there lay a number of broken off branches and dead trees, that had not attained their proper age, because, when there is too much water, the trees stand too thickly, and their tops get lashed together, and these sunts, especially, spreading from top to bottom with short boughs, leave no draught, so that the centre of them is deprived of the necessary air. We remark, however, where the forest is sufficiently thin, a number of trees thrown down and withered, especially where the shores lie lower, and where, therefore, the ground can be scarcely dry at any time of the year. This may proceed perhaps from wind, for though the latter is not so violent as to tear up trees from the root, like our northern storms, yet the tender nourishing fibres are injured or torn off by the continual motion of the trees, which must be followed by a stretching and straining of the roots. The tree stands, pines away, and falls, as we have remarked previously in the country of Taka. Suliman Kashef related, with an important air, that he shot quite close to a large hippopotamus several times yesterday evening, without the beast moving, until, at last, it slowly walked into the river. This Nile buffalo was said to be a Scheïtan, and Selim Capitan believed the very same thing. I threw in a hint that Mohammed Ali might have assumed this form, in order to see what good the expedition was doing—whereupon there was _altum silentium_! Thermometer, 22° 32° to 33°. _15th April._—Between N. and N.W. The nearest shores are low, and even where the forest extends to them, they are but slightly elevated, and the overthrown trees present a melancholy appearance here instead of the cheerful underwood. The old shores of the river are visible right and left through the downs of the forest, and are really high shores, without any deception, for the vessel goes considerably lower during our present return voyage, and no illusion takes place, as is the case with the slight elevation in the extensive plain, which always appears to the eye to be ascending. We navigate on the broad stream as if in the forest, woody islands on the right, the same on the left, but sunt, always sunt, with its melancholy foliage,—my heart longs for beeches and oaks and their shady halls! It is only on the shore where winds and water take effect above and below, that we see trees completely uprooted. The high water has no power towards the interior of the shore, but another evil spirit, the Habùb (storm), throws down and scatters boughs and trees.