At 6.30 we halted, and
slept on the road. This was the main route to Sennaar, from which
place strings of camels were passing to the Rahad, to purchase
corn. On the 16th of May, we started by moonlight at 4.30 A.M.
due west, and at 7.30 A.M. we arrived at the river Dinder, which,
at this point, was eighteen miles from the village of Kook, on
the Rahad.
We joined a camp of the Kunana Arabs, who at this season throng
the banks of the Dinder. This river is similar in character to
the Rahad, but larger: the average breadth is about a hundred and
ten yards: the banks are about fifty feet high, and the immediate
vicinity is covered with thick jungle of nabbuk and thorny
acacias, with a great quantity of the Acacia Arabica, that
produces the garra, already described as valuable for tanning
leather. I made ink with this fruit, pounded and boiled, to which
I added a few rusty nails, and allowed it to stand for about
twenty-four hours. The Dinder was exceedingly deep in many
places, although in others the bed was dry, with the exception of
a most trifling stream that flowed through a narrow channel in
the sand, about an inch in depth. The Arabs assured me that the
crocodiles in this river were more dangerous than in any other,
and their flocks of goats and sheep were attended by a great
number of boys, to prevent the animals from descending to the
water to drink, except in such places as had been prepared for
them by digging small holes in the sand.
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