•chap, i.] ITS CHARACTER. 4/ 
boatmen tell me that the Sobat, within a few days’ 
sail of the junction, divides into seven branches, all 
shallow and with a rapid current. The banks are flat, 
and the river is now bank-full. Although the water 
is perfectly clear, and there is no appearance of flood, 
yet masses of weeds, as though tom from their beds by 
torrents, are constantly floating down the stream. One 
of my men has been up the river to the farthest 
navigable point; he declares that it is fed by many 
mountain torrents, and that it runs out very rapidly 
at the cessation of the rains. I sounded the river in 
many places, the depth varying very slightly, from 
twenty-seven to twenty-eight feet. At 5 p.m. set sail 
with a light breeze, and glided along the dead water 
of the White Nile. Full moon—the water like a 
mirror; the country one vast and apparently inter¬ 
minable marsh—the river about a mile wide, and more 
or less covered with floating plants. The night still as 
death; dogs barking in the distant villages, and herds 
of hippopotami snorting in all directions, being dis¬ 
turbed by the boats. Course west. 
5 th Jan .—Fine breeze, as much as we can carry; 
boats running at eight or nine miles an hour—no 
stream perceptible; vast marshes; the clear water of 
the river not more than 150 yards wide, forming 
a channel through the great extent of water grass 
