CW. XLIX. RETURN EASTWARD. 
367 
to endure everything rather than to forego seeing the 
capital ; but my poor servants were very differently 
disposed, for, having no mental interest, they felt the 
material privations more heavily. While they viewed 
with horror our projected journey eastward, they 
cast a melancholy look on the opposite bank of the 
river, which promised them freedom from privation 
as well as from vexation. 
It was now for the fourth time that I was passing 
along the banks of the stream. It was at present at 
its very lowest (" ba nedonge," as the Bagirmi people 
say), having sunk a foot or two since I first saw it, 
and having laid bare a much larger part of the sand- 
bank. People in Europe have no idea of the situa- 
tion of a solitary traveller in these regions. If I had 
been able to proceed according to my wishes, my 
road, from the very first moment when I entered the 
country, would have lain straight along the course 
of this mighty river towards its sources; but a 
traveller in these countries is no better than a slave, 
dependent upon the caprice of people without intelli- 
gence and full of suspicion. All that I could expect 
to be able still to accomplish, under present circum- 
stances, was to obtain distinct information concerning 
the upper course of the river ; for, ardent as had been 
my desire to join the sultan on his expedition, from 
all that I had seen I could scarcely expect that the 
people would allow me to go to any distance. 
Our march the first day was rather short, for, 
having rested almost six hours, during the heat of the 
