THE CLIMATE OF THE WHITE NILE. 367 
escort. I feel it due to the memory of my companion 
to state these facts, and to say that I had the same 
feeling of disappointment which he had, and that our 
meeting with Mr Petherick was by no means the cor- 
dial one we anticipated. Having been previously 
supplied with all necessaries, and three return boats 
by Baker for conveying us to Khartoom, we required 
nothing save a few yards of calico to replace the bark- 
cloth rags of our twenty Seedees, and this we obtained 
from the stores of Mr Petherick. 
We halted at Gondokoro from the 15 th till the 
morning of the 26th, so that Speke might find the moon 
in lunar distance for the longitude, which he ascer- 
tained to be 31° 46' 9" east, and latitude 4° 54' 5" 
north. During this dry season it was very hot, the 
thermometer ranging from 94° to 100° in the shade; 
but it was thought a better climate and more pleasant 
residence than Khartoom, there being only two hot 
months, January and February, during the year. Be- 
tween Gondokoro and Khartoom the White Nile is 
reported unhealthy; and amongst its many European 
victims was a distinguished French naturalist, Dr 
Penny, who had explored farther south than any pre- 
vious traveller. His loss was deeply felt at Khartoom. 
Many of the servants of the traders were suffering from 
ulcers, having been in swampy countries ; and on the 
tenth day of my arrival at Gondokoro I had an attack 
of fever. Nearly all our Seedees had tapeworm dis- 
ease, contracted on the journey. The animal gener- 
ally appeared in single white portions, one inch long 
and one-third of an inch broad. It gave them no 
pain, nor did it reduce the men in flesh, but it was 
very inconvenient. Bombay vomited one, which meas- 
