I got him off to his vessel, but the wind died away before we could reach the mouth of the river.
_24th March, 1866._--I went to the dhow, and there being no wind I left orders with the captain to go up the right bank should a breeze arise.

Mr.Fane, midshipman, accompanied me up the left bank above, to see if we could lead the camels along in the water.

Near the point where the river first makes a little bend to the north, we landed and found three formidable gullies, and jungle so thick with bush, date-palms, twining bamboo, and hooked thorns, that one could scarcely get along.

Further inland it was sticky mud, thickly planted over with mangrove roots and gullies in whose soft banks one sank over the ankles.

No camels could have moved, and men with extreme difficulty might struggle through; but we never could have made an available road.