We started punctually at the time appointed, and sailed for about seven miles up the river, which at this season could be navigated without difficulty. We now crossed over to the west bank, and the wind being foul, the soldiers turned out and hauled the vessels against the stream by tow-ropes. The country was perfectly lovely. The high, rocky hills, a few miles distant, sloped in beautiful undulations of open, park-like land to the river's bank. Here and there fine ornamental trees were dotted about the surface; but the absence of forest would have rendered the locality unfit for a large station. The villages were innumerable: but there was not a sign of friendship among the numerous population. The natives poured out of their various stations leaping, brandishing their spears, and gesticulating with unmistakable actions of hostility. The river was about 500 yards wide, and in several places the dull, grey heads of rocks protruded from the surface. We therefore continued to tow the vessels close to the bank, with a party marching parallel to protect the flank in case of a sudden attack. The natives evidently intended to oppose us. I always gave the Baris a fair chance, and allowed them to make the first hostile move before I proceeded to forcible measures. I therefore landed and advanced a few hundred paces inland. There were many curious rocks in this neighbourhood, some of which were clean blocks of granite in masses of forty or fifty feet high, piled roughly as though arranged artificially. The natives, as we advanced, moved gradually towards this shelter, in which they squatted until we arrived within a hundred and twenty paces. My interpreter now conversed with them, saying that I had not come to fight, but to purchase corn, that I would give them a cow for each googoo full of unthrashed dhurra: this was the usual price when the natives traded among themselves. In reply to this polite assurance, they used most insulting language, and said--"You need not offer us your cattle, as we intend to take them by force; therefore, be off to Khartoum!" By this time I had advanced with the interpreter to within a hundred yards of them. They were completely in my power, but I resisted the temptation. This is the disadvantage in treating with savages. I always afforded them every opportunity for peaceful arrangements, and returned civil replies to their abusive and coarse insults. This gave them the advantage of selecting their own convenience for an attack. A hundred times I have had them in my grasp, as upon this occasion, when a well-directed volley would have created a terrible effect; but I have always been patient, and allowed them to strike the first blow.