98 
TEAVELS IN CENTEAL AFEICA. 
contributed to him by the French Government, he said, were so 
slender that at the point mentioned he had been obliged to abandon 
his search for the sources of the Nile. We also met Miani on his 
return from Khartoum at the Cataraets of Assuan. His expedition, 
with a similar purpose in view, had, he stated, come to grief at 
Khartoum by the foundering of his boat and consequent loss of 
stores. 
At this point Hr. Murie joined us in the Kathleen from 
Cairo. He left England to join my expedition in the capacity of 
photographer and amanuensis, and brought with him an elaborate 
photographic apparatus. He accompanied us aeross the desert on 
the 7th, the boat having been sent forward on September 3rd, to 
take advantage of the inerease of the Nile, in order to surmount 
the Cataracts of Wadi Haifa, Hongola, and Berber. 
On the 29th September, at Berber, I was put in possession of the 
following letter, dated Cassala, 11th July, 1861, and in consequence 
I took charge of twenty-eight rather formidable paekages, consist- 
ing of guns, ammunition, three portmanteaux, seven deal cases of 
sundries, water-barrels and camel litters, independent of the hippo- 
potami- skins and skulls therein referred to. 
“ CASSALA, 
“lia J\ily, 1861. 
“My uear Petheeick, 
“ I send you a few lines in the hope of catching you at 
Berber, on your way to Khartoum. At this time of the year 
there is no pleasure in travelling through such a continuation of 
deserts as exist to this spot, and I propose to start on the 13th, 
and bivouac for a few weeks in a good elephant country of the 
Atbara, now two days’ journey on the road to Katariff, which 
latter place is on the line to Khartoum. When you are there, 
