30 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



requested this high functionary of the Viceroy to estab- 

 lish at his residence in the capital of the Soudan, and 

 in accordance with the questions sketched out by the 

 Academic des Sciences, a standing inquiry among all 

 travellers, tourists, savants, traders, and pilgrims, 

 whether native or European. 



" t Circumstances favoured my commencing an inquiry 

 of this kind myself, and I had several opportunities 

 during my three weeks stay at Khartoum to question, 

 either together or independently, MM. de Malzac, 

 Thibaut, and Yayssieres, French travellers ; another 

 of our compatriots, Dr. Peney, who has been living 

 for the last ten years in the Sennaar ; M. Heuglein, the 

 Austrian consul, and a very learned geographer and 

 naturalist; and Don Ignacio Knoblecher, the worthy 

 chief of the Apostolic Mission in Eastern Africa. 



" ' I am very pleased to lay before the Academy the 

 results of my investigations, and trust that they may 

 be deemed of interest. 



" l Since the expedition of M. d'Arnaud, which did 

 not get beyond 4 42' 42", no one has been further up 

 the river than Don Ignacio Knoblecher, Don Angelo 

 Vinco and Don Bartholomeo Mosgan. These hardy 

 missionaries navigated for a period of a fortnight 

 beyond the point reached by M. d'Arnaud, that is up 

 to the third degree. They formed at Gondokoro, in 

 the land of the Barrys, in 4 35', latitude north, and 

 28 47', longitude east (M.P.), an establishment which 

 is still flourishing despite the death of its first founder, 



