PASSING A CATARACT. 
421 
of seeing a collection of plants from the Bahr Ghazal, 
made by Dr Steudner (since dead) of Madame Tinne's 
expedition; they were nearly all the same as those 
found upon the Nile, but some auricularias were 
interesting. The sunset view of Mount Koeean and 
the low chain of mounds to its right, as we looked 
down a rocky reach of the river about four miles in 
length, was striking ; the slopes of the hills became 
purple, and the bushes on both banks were lit up 
in gorgeous tints. The river had quite changed its 
character ; numbers of rocks at the sides and centre 
of the stream stood out of the water, making the 
navigation dangerous, and impossible at night. Our 
rowers had to pull very hard to escape the sunken 
rocks, which we avoided through the aid of a pilot 
from the shore. 
17 th. — Having passed the island of Eoeean to 
our right, the river ran through a narrow pass of hills 
called "Gherri." Nothing could be more desolate- 
looking : splinters of black rock lay on their sides, 
like refuse thrown from a quarry. The river branches 
on making its escape from these hills. Our boat 
took the right channel, and had scarcely entered it 
when we had to pass through a rapid and dangerous 
cataract, known as the Sixth Cataract of the maps, 
and called by the natives Cibleoga. It was so 
narrow, that while our oars were poised, and we shot 
down the sluice, guided only by the helm, the oars 
almost touched the rocks on either side. The pilot, 
steersman, and boatman saw that one false move 
would have dashed the boat to pieces, so they did 
not breathe freely till the difficulty was over. No 
more rocks were met with till reaching Murnat at 
