Meanwhile, Sídi Mohammed had made a serious attack upon my religion, and called me always a káfir. But I told him that I was a real Moslim, the pure Islám, the true worship of the one God, dating from the time of Adam, and not from the time of Mohammed; and that thus, while adhering to the principle of the unity, and the most spiritual and sublime nature, of the Divine Being, I was a Moslim, professing the real Islám, although not adopting the worldly statutes of Mohammed, who, in everything that contained a general truth, only followed the principles established long before his time. I likewise added, that even they themselves regarded Plato and Aristotle as Moslemín, and that thus I myself was to be regarded as a Moslim, in a much stricter sense than these two pagan philosophers. I concluded by stating that the greater part of those who called themselves Moslemín did not deserve that name at all, but ought rather to be called Mohammedán, such as we named them, because they had raised their prophet above the Deity itself. Being rather irritated and exasperated by the frequent attacks of Sídi Mohammed and Álawáte, I delivered my speech with great fervour and animation; and when I had concluded, Sídi Mohammed, who could not deny that the Kurán itself states that Islám dates from the creation of mankind, was not able to say a word in his defence. As for El Bakáy, he was greatly delighted at this clear exposition of my religious principles, but his younger brother, who certainly possessed a considerable degree of knowledge in religious matters, stated, in opposition to my argument, that the Caliphs, El Harún and Mʿamún, who had the books of Plato and Aristotle translated into Arabic, were Metʿazíla, that is to say, heretics, and not true Moslemín; but this assertion of course I did not admit, although much might be said in favour of my opponent. At all events, I had obtained some respite from the attacks of my friends; and having thus the support of them all, in the afternoon of the following day, the 10th of March, we went quietly to the tents in order to celebrate the “Sebúwa” (corresponding to the baptism of the Christians) of the new-born child. On this occasion I noticed that the water in the outlying creeks which we passed had only fallen about three feet since the 17th of February, which is less than two inches per day; but it is probable that the water of the principal branch decreases more rapidly than that of these winding backwaters.