HISTORICAL SKETCH OF WA'dA'Y. 537 
by strong factions, while he himself, being born of a woman 
who was not a native of the country, but a Fellatniye from 
Kordofan, had solely to rely upon his own energy and 
courage ; and it is said that he committed great havoc 
amongst the principal men of the country. What the present 
state of the country may be I do not know ; but I have been 
told that this king has been overthrown by one of his bro- 
thers. If Mr. Vogel, who, according to the latest accounts, 
has succeeded in entering this country, should be so for- 
tunate as to escape with his life, we shall soon hear more 
about this interesting region. 
Such is the short account of the history of Waday, as far 
as my inquiries in Bagirmi enabled me to learn it, and for 
the general accuracy of which I can answer, although it may 
be at variance with other reports. As for the character of 
the country, which has been thus united into one extensive 
kingdom, stretching in its greatest extent from W.N.W. to 
E.S.E., and reaching from about 15° east long., to about 23°, 
and from about 15° north lat. to 10° south, I shall here only 
give a very short view of the most characteristic features, 
leaving the particulars to the itineraries, as all the knowledge 
which we possess of the country is derived from them, and 
not from ocular inspection. 
Waday Proper is rather a level country, but interspersed 
with a great many isolated mountains of a dry and sterile 
character, as it seems, without being capable of feeding 
constant springs of water, the only sources of whose 
existence in the country I have been able to obtain informa- 
tion, being those near the place Hamiyen, in the wadi 
Waringek ; and even these are said to contain hot water. 
The whole country has an inclination from east to west — in 
other words, from the foot of Jebel Marra, in Dar Fur, 
towards the basin of the Fittri, the lake or lagoon of 
the Kuka, which receives all the moisture carried down 
during the rainy season by the smaller watercourses, and 
collected in the larger valley of the Bat~ha ; with the excep- 
