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1860.] minder that I was travelling backwards, from the circumference to the centre from which that circumference had been produced, faintly feeling my way along a tide of phenomena to the noumenon supporting them. So we always pro- gress : from arithmetic to geometry, from observation to science, from practice to theory, and play with edged tools long before we know what knives mean. For, like Hop-o'-my-Thumb and his brothers, we are driven out early in the morning to the edge of the forest, and are obliged to grope our way back to the little house whent-e we come, by the crumbs dropped on the road. Alack ! how often the birds have eaten our bread, and we are cap- tured by the giant lying in wait! On we swept, leaving behind the burn- ing rocks and dreary sands of Egypt and Lower Nubia, the green woods arid thick acacias of Dongola, the distant pyramids of Mount Birkel, and the ruins of Meroe, just discovered footmarks of Ancient Ethi- opia descending the Nile to bequeathe her glory and civilization to Egypt. At Old Dongola, my companion was very anxious that we should strike across the country to Shendy, to avoid the great curve of the Nile through Ethiopia. He found the sail somewhat tedious, as I could speak but little Egyptian, which I had picked up in scraps, he, no Ger- man or English. I managed to overrule his objections, however, as I could not bear to leave any part of the river un- visited; so we continued the water-route to the junction of the Blue and the White Nile, where I resolved to remain a week, before continuing my route. The inhab- itants regarded us with some suspicion, but our inoffensive appearance so far con- quered their fears that they were pre- vailed upon to give us some information about the country, and to furnish us with a fresh supply of rice, wheat, and dourra, in exchange tor beads and bright-colored cloth, which I had brought with me for the purpose of such traffic, if it should be necessary. Bruce's discovery of the source of the Blue Nile, fifty years before, prevented the necessity of indecision in regard to my route, and so completely was I absorbed in the one object of my journey, that the magnificent scenery and ruins along the Blue Nile, which had so fascinated Cailliaud, presented few al- lurements for me. My stay was rather longer than I had anticipated, as it was found necessary to make some repairs upon the boat, and, inwardly fretting at each hour's delay, I was eager to seize the first opportunity for starting again. On the 1st of March, I made a fresh beginning for the more unknown and probably more perilous portion of my voyage, having been about four months in ascending from Cairo. As my voyage had commenced about the abatement of the sickly season, I had experienced no inconvenience from the climate, and it was in good spirits that I resumed my journey. For several days we sailed with little eventful occurring, floating on under the cloudless sky, rip- pling a long white line through the wid- ening surface of the ever-flowing river, through floating beds of glistening lotus- flowers, past undulating ramparts of fo- liage and winged ambak-blossoms guard- ing the shores scaled by adventurous vines that triumphantly waved their ban- ners of white and purple and yellow from the summit, winding amid bowery islands studding the broad stream like gems, smoothly stemming the rolling flood of the river, flowing, ever flowing, lurking in the cool shade of the dense mimosa forests, gliding noiselessly past the trod- den lairs of hippopotami and lions, slush- ing through the reeds swaying to and fro in the green water, still borne along against the silent current of the myste- rious river, flowing, ever flowing. We had now arrived at the land of the Dinkas, where the river, by broad- ening too much upon a low country, had become partially devoured by marsh and reeds, and our progress was very slow, tediously dragging over a sea of water and grass. I had become a little tired of my complete loneliness, and was almost longing for some collision with the tribes of savages that throng the shore, when