INDIGO PRESENTS AGAIN. 
119 
Aheer appears to be a region essentially of granite, 
although here and there are volcanic cones striking 
up, composed of basalt, or a variety of this stone. 
The weather was very cloudy and cold, only a little 
warm in the middle of the day. We have not 
come to water or wells for three days, because our 
journeys are very short. To-day I saw, for the first 
time, the indigo plant — neela in Arabic, and bala in 
Soudanese. I was glad to make its acquaintance. 
It grows amongst the other herbage, and may be 
easily confounded with it as a common herb. It is 
now in seed, the pods being small and very hard. 
This is one of the products capable of working the 
regeneration of Africa, if Africa is to be civilised by 
legitimate commerce. 
En-Noor asked to-day if, on entering Constan- 
tinople, we English made presents. I told him very 
positively, " No;" but, on the contrary, everything 
which the English demanded of the Sultan of the 
Turks he did for us ; and because the Sultan was 
weak, England was obliged to protect him against 
the encroachments of the other Christian nations. 
I was much surprised to hear to-day that En- 
Noor begged a black burnouse from Barth. The 
old Sheikh is a Tuarick every inch of him. Never- 
theless, it is too bad to beg the things which we wear 
to protect us from the cold and the heat. Barth, I 
believe, has not yet made the Sheikh a present, and he 
is coming Hateetah over my worthy friend. Overweg 
has given the Sheikh a cloth jacket, which he could 
