I remained this night on board Selim Capitan’s vessel, to induce him to _renew_ the examination of the rocky pass in the water, and to allow me to accompany him; but he declared to me, although he could not conceal his own nervousness, that not only the Frenchmen, but also Suliman Kashef, even if the latter told me the contrary, have determined not to proceed further. I knew therefore how to explain why Selim Capitan and Arnaud had gone alone to the rocky pass, without letting me know of their intention, although the spot to be explored, where a passage possibly might be made, was scarcely a gun-shot distance from us. I felt myself, however, too much weakened from my illness to swim to it, and to scale the rocks, for I would not ask the favour of the sandal. My servants, who wished as much as myself to proceed further, had been at the place; and Fadl, who had been previously a mariner himself, declared that we could certainly pass through, but not back again, if the water continued to fall so much as it has done now for some days. Selim Capitan was really inclined to explore the ascent, but this continuation of the voyage was not to last longer than a day. But when he knelt this morning on his carpet, before sun-rise, directing his face to the East, for prayer, and discerned the numerous fires on the right shore, which he had not remarked during his ablutions, he looked at me so mournfully and suspiciously, that I could scarcely restrain my laughter. He concluded his prayer; and now he saw also on the island of Tshanker, near us, a number of such little straw fires, over which the naked people were warming themselves; whilst nearly every single man was stretching out his long legs over his own little fire. Then his courage sank anew, for there were still more blacks than yesterday. These men, however, did not come empty-handed, and barter rose to a pitch of greatness and variety, such as we had not before seen—a quantity of fowls, goats, sheep, cows and calves, wood, ferruginous sand, and iron dross, tobacco, pipes, simsim, durra, weapons, all kinds of ornaments for the body—everything for beads. Nevertheless the good Ethiopians did not shew themselves to-day quite blameless, for they sold quivers full of arrows, many of which were without points. They delivered the wares while receiving the beads, or the seller ran hastily away, retaining the goods as well as the purchase-money; they cuffed and wrestled with our men, without, however, making use of their weapons. On the whole, however, the injustice was on our side; the drum therefore beat to recall the crew to the vessels.