_Gagi.—Feb._ 24. We set out this morning at eight, and encamped at the village of Gagi at five,—nine hours. Here, and in the island of the same name adjoining, they number fifty men, all of the Ababde tribe. In the island are six sakkeas, for each of which they pay to the government fourteen dollars and two ardebs of wheat. We are encamped, as usual, near the house of the sheakh. I walked into his harem without ceremony, and chatted with his wives and female slaves. Some of them were very beautifully formed; and being almost naked, they displayed finely shaped busts, and, I may say, almost perfect symmetry of shape; their features very regular, and their full dark eyes exceedingly expressive. The little drapery worn by them is adjusted with great taste, and they possess a natural ease of manner, neither bashful nor yet too forward, which is very engaging. The slaves were employed in making basket-work, and the wives reposing on their angareebs. I could not, in Egypt, have taken the liberty of entering a harem in this manner; but here, apparently, more freedom is permitted, for they did not seem at all offended; on the contrary, they gave me as much encouragement as I could desire. They examined my arms and dress, and were profuse in their admiration of my beard, and in exclamations, as, “Odjaib, whallah! wonderful, God is great! but he is a tall man.” The sheakh was smoking under the shade of some doum trees. He saw me enter, but had the politeness not to interfere. The title of sheakh was at one time always hereditary in Upper Egypt; but the Pasha, in most instances, put an end to this mode of transmission; choosing for that honour those that had best suited his purposes. In Upper Nubia, he has respected a little more the existing distinctions. There the office of sheakh is still in general hereditary: the eldest son succeeds to the father; and, in default of male issue, the eldest daughter enjoys the dignity. On account of the number of their wives, it rarely occurs that they have no son; but I am told there is an instance now, near Dongolah, of a female sheakh. I have described the fortified house of a great sheakh: that of one less powerful and wealthy consists, generally, of two large rooms, a divan and harem, between which is a pallisaded enclosure, where the flocks are kept. (See Vignette, p. 1.) The sheakhs offer us every night angoureebs[8] (bedsteads) made of wood and cords, but we are now so accustomed to sleeping on the ground that we no longer feel it a hardship. On this evening, and also that of yesterday, we have been annoyed by swarms of very small flies, like midges, which draw blood most copiously from our hands, but without leaving much painful irritation.[9] From Abou-Hammed to this village our route has always been through the desert, sometimes 300 paces only, but often as much as three miles from the river. The banks are covered with doums and acacias; the fruit of the former