At five P.M., I left, with great regret, the site of Meroe, and stopped for the night at half past seven. The navigation of the river, in the dark, at this season of the year, is dangerous, on account of the number of rocks. We have passed, this evening, the village of Abukatab, to the west, and on the east a large village called Kabushish, and an island of the same name. We passed Garburiah, a large village to the west, and we are now near El Gililife, a smaller one on the same side. Yesterday, and this morning, I was greatly alarmed for the health of my Dragoman. He has had a most violent dysentery, which I have at last cured with opium and calomel; the former sufficiently strong to keep him asleep. This attack might have been fatal to him had he not possessed a very strong constitution. _March_ 7. We set sail this morning, at six, with a favourable wind, and passed, at nine, a large village called Meroueer, on the west side. The resemblance to the ancient name is obvious, but there are no remains. At ten we passed the village of Sofra, to the west; at half past ten, the village of Gaher, same side, and the small island of Addadiker. Shortly afterwards, we passed the village of Unukatab, and arrived at Shendy at twelve. [Illustration: FORTIFIED RESIDENCE OF THE ANCIENT MELEKS, OR KINGS, OF SHENDY.] _Shendy._—On the eastern banks of the river is one of the old fortified houses of the Meleks, now the residence of the government. I called to pay my respects to the Katshef, but was informed that he was asleep. I proceeded to the town, which is about a mile distant from the river. Burckhardt, by his very detailed account of Shendy, conveys almost an impression that it is a considerable place; but, though the capital of a once important province, that succeeded to all that remains of the commerce of Meroe, as a city it can never have been worthy of much notice. Any of the little towns in Lower and Upper Egypt have ten times more the appearance of a metropolis. The houses are little better than mere hovels; there are no shops, no _cafés_: the country in the immediate vicinity is wretchedly barren. The town may now contain 600 or 700 houses, and not more than 3000 or 3500 inhabitants. The dwellings are not crowded together, as in the villages of Egypt; they are spacious, and have often interior courts: the streets are wide, and there are in the town several open spaces, or squares, some of which are used as market-places.