506 TWYFORD ON THE SOURCES OF THE WHITE NILE. [June 22, 1857. 



cataracts, and on Thursday the 13th started at daylight with all the 

 boats before me. About 8 a.m. came to a village named " Koulou- 

 tout," where two of the rais or pilots had their country-houses of 

 mud, and where at their request I stopped for ten minutes to allow 

 them to get some food that their families had prepared for them. 

 The whole population ran out to say " Good bye " to their relations, 

 crying bitterly ; for they all thought that we would never return. 



The wife of one of the pilots made her appearance with a sheep 

 as a present to me. As long as the villagers could walk along the 

 shore they kept the boats in company, wailing and screaming fear- 

 fully ; and when the shore came to an abrupt termination, they all 

 set to work throwing water at us for good luck. 



The morning that the first of my boats tried to get over, the rais 

 of the cataracts sacrificed a sheep to some saint's tomb or another, to 

 persuade him to get the boats over safely ; and when the steamer 

 struck on the rocks, he swore by Mahomed that he would never 

 waste another sheep. One of my cawasses also told my interpreter 

 that as he had to go over the cataracts next day, he had sacrificed a 

 sheep the night before. 



On Sunday the 23rd we reached the village of Wadi Halfeh. As 

 soon as possible I went up to the foot of the second cataract in the 

 steamer, and we then took to a little cutter and went over the 

 cataracts. These deserve the name of cataracts, though the first do 

 not. 



There are two channels, one easier than the other, both passable 

 at high Nile ; but I arrived too late for the easy and safe passage, 

 and had to wait until the large passage became passable. The water 

 rushes through with the greatest violence, and there is a 2 or 3 feet 

 fall. 



The cataracts are a succession of rapids, each one as you ascend 

 being worse than the former. 



I took the efiendi and the sheik of the village with me in the 

 cutter, who were both in a great fright. They had neither of them 

 been over the cataracts, and never would have gone of their own 

 free will. The cataracts do not present such a fine view to the eye 

 as one would expect, but they are much more extensive and more 

 dangerous than the cataracts at Assouan. 



No one can conceive the rapidity with which the water pours 

 down. For instance, it took me, in a small boat pulled by ropes and 

 fifty men, eight hours to ascend, and one to come down ; and in 

 ascending one rapid, it was as much as I could do to sit still without 

 going head over heels into the water, the boat's bow was so much 

 above the stern. 



