Chap. XLIV. THE RIVER AGAIN. 219 
outward shore we reached the inner bank of the river, 
which consisted of sand, and was here only ten feet 
high. The river at present was confined to this bank, 
running at this spot from S. 25° E. ; but a little lower 
down it changed its direction, running W. by N. 
Higher up, the opposite shore was richly overgrown 
with trees, among which deleb- and dum-palms were 
conspicuous ; but no villages were to be seen, although 
a place named Kar is said to lie on the eastern shore. 
The reason we had directed our march to this point 
seemed to be, that the river is here rather broad, being 
about eight hundred yards across, and forming a 
large sandbank, so that my friends had entertained 
the hope that they would be enabled to ford it, which 
in some years, when the rains have not been very 
considerable, may be possible at this season, and 
even this year might probably be effected in two 
months' time. But at present this was not the case, 
and the rapacious Shiiwa Arabs were hurrying about 
in despair, to and fro, between the island and the 
western shore. 
I too took the direction of the island, as the most 
interesting point, although I became aware that it was 
not possible to penetrate further on. The first branch 
of the river on this side of the island, which was the 
broader of the two, was not more than from eighteen 
to nineteen inches deep, and could not but become 
dry in a short time, when the island, or rather sand- 
bank, should form the knee of the bend of the river ; 
but the eastern branch, though apparently only about 
