I engaged three vessels, including two large noggurs or sailing barges, and a good decked vessel with comfortable cabins, known by all Nile tourists as a diahbiah.
On December 18th, 1862, we left Khartoum.

Our course up the river was slow and laborious.

At times the boats had to be dragged by the men through the high reeds.

It is not surprising that the ancients gave up the exploration of the Nile, when they came to the countless windings and difficulties of the marshes.

The river is like an entangled skein of thread, and the voyage is tedious and melancholy beyond description.