It was now for the fourth time that I was passing along the banks of the stream. It was at present at its very lowest (“bá nedónge,” as the Bagírmi people say), having sunk a foot or two since I first saw it, and having laid bare a much larger part of the sandbank. People in Europe have no idea of the situation of a solitary traveller in these regions. If I had been able to proceed according to my wishes, my road, from the very first moment when I entered the country, would have lain straight along the course of this mighty river towards its sources; but a traveller in these countries is no better than a slave, dependent upon the caprice of people without intelligence and full of suspicion. All that I could expect to be able still to accomplish, under present circumstances, was to obtain distinct information concerning the upper course of the river; for, ardent as had been my desire to join the sultan on his expedition, from all that I had seen I could scarcely expect that the people would allow me to go to any distance. Our march the first day was rather short, for, having rested almost six hours, during the heat of the day, in a village called “Káda-bákaláy,” we went only three miles further, when we encamped in another village called “Káda-márga,” recently built, where the inhabitants of the deserted village of the same name, which on our return-journey from the capital we passed in the forest, had taken refuge. The village had a neat appearance, there being even a dyeing-place or “búkko alínbe;” it was also enlivened by several tame ostriches. The well, with a depth of from ten to twelve fathoms, contained a rich supply of water, but of bad quality. The next day we made up for our loss of time, and only stopped for the night, about a couple of miles beyond Bákadá; for, notwithstanding my esteem for Bú-Bakr Sadík, I refused to make any stay in, or even to enter the place where I had been kept back so long a time. The wooded wilderness had become prepared by the rains to receive its temporary inhabitants the Shúwa; and the well of Bákadá, for the use of which I had been obliged to pay so many needles, was left to decay. [Sidenote: Tuesday, April 27th.]