Chap. LXXVIII. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF GO^GO'. 217 
once supposed, that the chief part of the town was 
situated on the island, but this does not appear 
to have been the case ; neither does it appear to 
have stood on the western bank. The fact is that 
in former times there were two distinct quarters of 
Gogo, the quarter of the idolaters on the western bank 
towards Giirma, and the royal and Mohammedan 
quarter on the eastern bank towards Egypt, whence 
Islam, with its accompanying civilization, had been 
introduced. In the course of time the latter quarter 
would gain over the former, which from the beginning, 
when pagan worship was prevalent, was no doubt the 
more considerable. 
Even at present, when all this ground was left dry 
by the retiring waters and formed a rich grassy 
island, only a few huts were seen on the island, as 
well as on the shore of A'ribinda. But the present 
inhabitants appear scarcely to be in want of the 
river, for only a single seaworthy boat was to be seen, 
and four others out of repair were lying on the shore. 
The natives, when I expressed my astonishment at 
the miserable state of their craft, complained that 
they had no wood for building boats. Between the 
huts and the little creek, which by means of a 
northerly branch serves to irrigate the rice-fields, 
there is a tobacco plantation. It is here that the 
finest trees are grouped together, and I now observed, 
that besides from twenty to twenty-five date palms, 
which were just full of fruit, bordering upon ripeness, 
there were tw^o or three diim -palms. 
