222 
ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 
[May 10, 1858. 
tinctive marks, political intercourse, warlike arts, religion, and superstitions 
of the nations of the Sudan, occupy the remainder of the treatise, which is 
worthy of perusal. 
2. Expedition a la Recherche des Sources du Nil (1839-40). Journal de 
M. Thibaut, publie par les soins de M. le Comte d’Escayrac de 
Lauture. 
This is a narrative of a companion of M. d’Arnaud, who, under the auspices 
of Mehemet Ali, made several expeditions up the White .Nile, which he 
ascended as high as lat. 4° 42 n. The journal of M. d’Arnaud was published 
in the ‘ Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie’ in 1842. M. Thibaut accom- 
panied that explorer in his first expedition as far up the White Nile as 
lat. 6° 33', in the winter of 1839-40. 
On their leaving Khartum, Mehemet Ali, the ruler of Egypt, assembled the 
members of the expedition in the grand divan of the Governor of Nubia, and 
thus addressed them in giving his parting instructions : — “ I do not enter 
into thbse countries as a conqueror ; he prudent ; make presents worthy of 
me ; acquire the good will of the savage people, whom, no doubt, you will 
meet with in great number ; obtain their friendship by benefits. The troops 
which attend you are only for your protection, and not for attack.” This 
oration, delivered “ with that amenity which distinguished him,” was truly 
paternal. It will he hereafter seen how the instructions of the Pasha were 
carried out. The expedition consisted, besides the special officers, of 400 
infantry soldiers, under the command of an adjutant-major and a certain 
Soliman Cachef, and was conveyed in five gun-boats and five other boats, 
accompanied by fifteen river transports, carrying provisions for eight months, 
and munitions of war. It left Khartum on Nov. 16, and in the journal of 
M. Thibaut, under the date of the 18th, we find the following description : — • 
“The White Nile is not dangerous from sandbanks, as is the Blue Nile; its 
course is interspersed with numerous islands, which increase in number on 
proceeding southward. It is of pretty equal depth, but during the season of 
low water its navigation is difficult, from shell-banks and fallen trees which 
encumber its bed.” The banks on both sides are described as in most parts 
fertile and well- wooded. 
The memoir is unaccompanied by any map. No barometrical, and very 
few thermometrical observations are recorded; nor are the latitudes and 
longitudes given of any of the places mentioned. These are disadvantages 
which very much detract from the value of the narrative as a geographical 
record. The descriptions of the countries traversed are, however, by no means 
destitute of interest. On arriving at Lake Nu (which is laid down in the 
chart attached to the work previously noticed), where several rivers disembogue, 
the expedition took the wrong track, and ascended a river which was found to 
be impassable for the flotilla, owing to a vast depth of mud. Ultimately the 
vessels retraced their course, a distance of 45 miles, and at length rediscovered 
the main stream of the White Nile, which, above Lake Nu, comes from the 
south-east. 
The Egyptian troops appear soon afterwards, from the details given, to have 
become ungovernable by their officers ; and the latter were imposed upon by 
a lying or suspicious dragoman. Amongst other exploits, on the 4th of 
January, whilst in the country of the Kyks, and after a supply of oxen had 
been afforded to the expedition by the natives, a crowd of the latter assembled 
on the banks of the river, either attracted by curiosity, or desirous to exchange 
their weapons and bracelets for glass beads and other ornaments, “ when the 
dragoman, or interpreter, gave notice that the natives opposed the passage. 
