THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. s¥) 



htd between the hands into a ckift or powder, for the fake 

 of package; and the goat's lldn .crammed as Full as pofliblff,. 

 and tied at the mouth with a leather thong. This bread 

 has a fouriih talle, which it imparts to the water when 

 mingled with it, and fwells to fix times the fpace that it 

 occupied when dry. A handful, as much as you could 

 grafp, put into a bowl made of a gourd fawed in two, about 

 twice the contents of a common tea-bafon, was the quan- 

 tity allowed to each man every day, morning and evening.; ; 

 and another fuch, gourd of water divided, one half two 

 hours before noon, the other about an hour after. Suck 

 were the regulations we all of us fubfcribed to ; we had not 

 camels for a greater provifion. The Nik at Hafla runs 

 at the foot of a mountain called Jibbel Atefhan, or the 

 Mountain ofThirJl; the men, emphatically enough, confider- 

 ing that thofe who part from it, entering the defert, take 

 there the firil provifions againft thiril, and there thofe thai 

 come to it from the defert firfl ailuage theirs. 



On the nth, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon we 

 left Hafla. It required a whole day to fill our ficins, and 

 foak them well in the water, in order to make an experi- 

 ment, which was of the greatell confequence of any one we 

 ever made, whether thefe fkins were water-tight or not. I 

 had taken the greateft care while at Chendi to dawb them 

 well over with grcafe and tar, to fecure their pores on the 

 outfide ; but Idris told us this v/as not enough, and that 

 foaking the infide with water, filling them choak-full, and 

 tying their mouths as hard as poffible, w^as the only way to 

 be certain if they were v/ater-tight without. 



\Vhil2 



