GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 329 



"The great difficulties experienced by Mr. Higginbotham in 

 the passage of the Nubian desert with so large a caravan of up- 

 wards of 1,800 camels, laden with unmanageable loads of material, 

 caused a delay which lost the favorable season for the White Nile 

 voyage. The unfortunate festivities attendant upon the opening 

 of the Suez Canal had also delayed my departure from Egypt, as 

 no steamer was disengaged. The failure of the passage of the 

 cataracts by the 6 steamers and large-decked vessels from Cairo 

 was a severe embarrassment, but the climax to the series of con- 

 tretemps was the total want of preparation at Khartoum, where 1 

 had expected to have found an organized fleet upon my arrival 

 from Egypt, according to my instructions given some months 

 beforehand. These delays are inseparable from African affairs. 

 Thus, instead of starting'frorn Khartoum in December, we left on 

 the 8th of February. Previous to my departure from Khartoum 

 I was assured that the Great White Nile had ceased to be a navi- 

 gable river ! 



" If you refer to my work, ' The Albert Nyanza,' you will 

 remember my description of the dam formed by floating rafts of 

 vegetation, which, by accumulation, has caused an obstruction in 

 the river before the junction of the Bahr Gazelle and the Bahr 

 Giraffe. It appears that since my passage of the river in 18G5 

 the dam has been entirely neglected by the authorities at Khar- 

 toum, and the river, thus left to its own vagaries, has exempli- 

 fied the principle that has formed the weary wilderness of marsh 

 and decomposing vegetation that marks the course of the White 

 Nile. 



" The vast masses of floating islands continually brought down 

 by the stream have now formed an addition to the dam, and 

 have produced anew district of many miles 1 extent beneath which 

 the river passes by a subterranean channel. Thus the White Nile 

 has literally been" closed to navigation. The slave-traders, thus 

 shut out from communication with their old field, had discovered 

 a passage to Gondokoro through the Bahr Giraffe. 



" In the ' Albert Nyanza ' you will see that I declared the Bahr 

 Giraffe to be merely a branch of the White Nile, quitting the main 

 river in the Aliab country, and that it was not an independent 

 stream like the Probat, as laid down upon former maps. This 

 is proved to be correct. 



" I left Khartoum with 5 guides, intending to adopt the new 

 route, via the Bahr Giraffe. On the 17th of February we entered 

 the mouth of the river in N. lat. 9 2G'. The water was 19 feet 

 deep, and the current about 3 miles per hour, with a breadth 

 from bank to bank of about 60 yards. At the time the surface 

 was about 5 feet below high-water mark. 



"The mean course of this winding river was from the south- 

 west. Four small granite hills formed unmistakable landmarks 

 in the boundless flats within 15 miles of the junction. Fine 

 forests bordered the river for about 30 miles, diversified by 

 plains of extremely fertile soil. Beyond this the wood was 

 scarce, and the forests were at intervals of 70 or 80 miles. As 

 we proceeded the wood ceased altogether, and the steamers 



