ARRIVAL AT LOLNUN; OR ABU KUKA. 
167 
help us onward. But Monsieur Poncet said there were, none; so 
that hope was dispelled. A bullock^ a present from Poncet^ was 
slaughtered for the men^ who rejoiced greatly. Many left the boats 
to occupy the tookuls, large fires were lighted_, and every one seemed 
intent upon cooking. 
July Srd . — Long before dawn we were roused by the disturbance 
incidental to the. discovery of another leak. The boat was. fortu- 
nately aground. Petherick was completely overcome : a maiPs 
silent grief is hard to witness. He did not rave^ as was his wont, 
at the culpable negligence of the reis and crew, but said, ^^You 
were all drunk with meat.^^ The boat was unladen, and when day 
broke the heavy loss sustained was apparent to all : nothing had 
escaped ; books, stationery, powder, and stores of every description 
were alike saturated. A consultation was held, every one advising 
our return to Khartoum, to come back the following season — in 
November; but Petherick would not listen to the proposition, so 
anxious was he to keep his engagement with Captain Speke and 
the Boyal Geographical Society. 
It was resolved, therefore, to march to Gondokoro, via the Aliab, 
Madar, Shyr, and the Bari territories — a most direct route, though 
Monsieur Poncet expressed great fear that such a proceeding would 
be found impracticable, in consequence of the alarming inundation 
then prevailing. The Kytch chief Jickwi, a tall, gaunt, hungry- 
looking negro, was present ; and he promising the necessary porters, 
preparations were immediately commenced to send off loads by de- 
tachments to a hunting station of Poncet^s, called Ador, some ten 
miles westward. This was to be our starting-point, as at this 
swamp, Lolnun, there was neither terra firma nor fodder for horses 
or donkeys. It was also decided that reis Sur Katti’s boat should 
