constructed of matting. Cattle seemed to abound; but the cultivation of the ground was rather scanty, and the character of the country uniform, and without any interesting features, the trees consisting almost exclusively of talha and homéd. We had also to cross a river, at present about 200 yards wide and two feet deep, which the preceding day had evidently been impassable and had carried away several head of cattle, a fact we learned from a Púllo neatherd whom we passed on our road, as he was cheerfully stalking before his cattle, and leading them along merely by the sound of his voice.

Thus, after a march of about thirteen miles, having crossed a swamp and left a larger sheet of water on our left, we reached a miserable hamlet called Déshi, belonging still to the district of Kséne (which comprises Fíliyo), and consisting of several groups of half-decayed clay dwellings inhabited by poor Songhay people, who appeared to be greatly oppressed.

It was with some difficulty that we here obtained quarters; and we had the misfortune of falling into a dispute with the landlord, on account of the many dogs which beset his house, and would not cede their place to us. This was a certain proof that the natives were not far advanced in Islám, as the Mohammedans in general are averse to the company of this unclean animal, and the Fúlbe very rarely make use of dogs even for watching their numerous herds of cattle. Most of these dogs were of black color, and almost all the fowls were of black and white color. I here also observed that the native women carried the water in a pair of buckets slung across the shoulder, as I had remarked already in other Songhay places; but here also they did not wear nose-rings.

The country around was well cultivated, and produced especially sorghum; but the harvest of the preceding year had not been a favorable one, as was the case almost all over the country, so that dearth was prevailing.

We here met with a party of native traders from Hómbori, with oxen laden with salt, who gave us some useful information with regard to the road before us. It had been a point of great dispute with us whether or not we should visit that town, one of the most ancient settlements in Negroland, probably already mentioned as an independent place by El Bekrí,* and forming the

El Bekrí, ed. de Slane, 1857, texte arabe, p. 179; comp. Cooley, the Negroland of the Arabs, p. 39, n. 73.—There can be but little doubt that by this

Hómbori is meant; for although El Bekrí made a gross mistake in stating that this

seat of a governor in the palmy days of the Songhay empire, the Hómbori-koy, and where even now a considerable market is held; but after mature consideration we had thought it better to leave it on one side, as on account of the considerable intercourse of people in that place, and the many Arabs who frequent it, the danger of my true character being there discovered was the greater.

Notwithstanding our determination not to touch at Hómbori, on setting out the following day, after an almost sleepless night, owing to the number of musquitoes, we preserved an entirely northerly direction. There was a good deal of cultivation round the village, consisting of Indian and negro millet, the crops being almost ripe. But I here met again that great annoyance to the husbandman, the black worm "hálowes," my old acquaintance in Bagírmi, which I had not seen in the whole intervening country, and which causes an immense deal of damage to the crops. The ground was rocky in many places; but this did not prevent the growth of the monkey-bread-tree, which is often seen shooting forth from between the very rocks. Farther on I also observed a little cultivation of beans, while the black worm was succeeded by large heaps of the small red worm which I had first observed on the banks of the river Sírba, and which seems to be a terrible nuisance to many of these districts. Gradually the road became more swampy, while we obtained a distant view of the detached mountains of Hómbori.

About three o'clock in the afternoon, five of our party, riding a little in advance of the camels, approached the town of Kúbo, when, being observed by some of the inhabitants, our appearance created a great alarm in the place, the people thinking that a hostile troop was approaching; but as soon as they beheld our laden camels their fears ceased, and they gave us quarters. Kúbo is the first place of the district called Tóndi, or el Hajri (meaning the mountainous or stony district), while Fíliyo and Déshi belong to the district called Kséne; but in a political respect Kúbo belongs now to the province of Dalla, which at present is governed by the son of Módi Bóle; it is two days and a half distant from the town of Hómbori,* and is a place of some importance. The

place was situated west of Ghána, while in reality it was east, yet on the other hand, it is very remarkable that the distance of nine days between Ambára and Kúkia, or Kúgha, agrees exactly with that between Hómbori and the latter place.

* A person starting from Kubo sleeps the first night in the forest, halting about 'aser; the second day, before noon, he reaches Tónderú, probably so called from

KUBO.-THE DISTRICT TO NDI.

221

houses are usually well built, and consist of clay, the greater part of them including a tolerably large court-yard. Our house also was spacious; but on account of my heavy luggage I was obliged to take up my quarters in the open segífa, or ante-chamber, which was greatly exposed to musquitoes. In front of my quarters there was a handsome square of tolerably regular shape, and toward the north a considerable tank spread out, along which led the path into the fields: for, the whole place being situated in a depression of the ground, all the moisture of the neighbourhood collects here.

The village is surrounded by a light stockade of two rows of bushes, and round about the place there are several ponds of water. Turtles are very common here, and the soil swarms with ants. The place was tolerably well provided with corn, and I bought here twenty mudd for one hundred dr'a of Gando cotton strips, equal in reality to nine hundred shells, but the mudd of Kúbo is smaller than that of Tínge, being about two thirds of its size, and in the form of a round dish, while that of Tínge is like a pitcher. The daily allowance of corn for a horse cost about one hundred shells.

A very heavy thunder-storm, accompanied with violent rain, broke out in the evening; and the clayey soil of the country which we had to traverse obliged me to stay here the following day. The delay caused me great disappointment, as the spreading of the news of my journey could not fail to increase its difficulties, and the more so as we heard here the unpleasant tidings. that the Governor of Dalla himself was near, and that most probably we should fall in with him.

Meanwhile I was applied to by our host and a cousin of his to decide a dispute between them as to the chieftainship of their vil lage; but of course I referred them to their own liege lord, and they started off to join him near the village of Dúna; but their absence did not expose us to inhospitality, as we were very lavishly treated with numerous dishes of Indian corn, which, however, were rendered less palatable by the use of the dodówabosso, or the adulterated dodówa; we also received a good supply of milk. I even bought a few fowls, though they were rather dear, selling for one hundred shells each-a price here reckoned equal to two darning-needles.

being situated on or at the foot of a mountain; and the third day, about nine o'clock in the morning, he arrives at Hómbori.

Friday, August 5th. There had been another heavy rain in the afternoon of the preceding day, but, fortunately, it had not been of sufficient duration to render the roads impassable. There was a great deal of indecision with my companion El Waláti as to the route which we should pursue; and while it almost seemed from our northerly direction as if up to this moment he had intended to take me to Hómbori, notwithstanding his former protestations against such a proceeding, he now pretended it was necessary that we should go to Dúna, and we accordingly changed our course to the west, or rather W.S.W., steering about like a vessel with contrary winds. There can be no doubt that all this time the crafty Arab himself was hesitating as to the course which he should take, and this was evidently the reason of his great delay, as he probably thought that he might have a chance of getting rid of me, and taking possession of my property; but we did not become aware of this treacherous conduct till we arrived at the place of our destination, when we learned how providentially we had escaped all his wiles.

At the western end of the village of Kúbo there is a suburb of Fúlbe cattle-breeders, consisting of about sixty large huts of reed. As soon as we had left this place behind us, we were quite horrorstruck at observing all the paths full of those small red worms which I have mentioned before, marching in unbroken lines toward the village; even my servants were quite surprised at such a spectacle, having never before seen any thing like it, and they gave vent to their feelings of astonishment, and, at the same time, of commiseration for the natives, in reiterated exclamations of "Wolla, wolla!" I am not acquainted with the reason of this curious phenomenon, but it seems peculiar to this region. Yet the ground was not quite barren, and was even sprinkled with violets here and there, the surface being undulating, not unlike the sandy downs of Kánem, the parallel of which country, namely about 15° of northern latitude, we had here reached.

Proceeding thus we reached, after a march of about four miles, a higher point, from whence we had a view over a wide expanse of underwood, broken only now and then by a baobab-tree, while toward the north some of the detached cones of the Hómbori range gave to the landscape a very singular feature, the isolated eminences of the range (if range it can be called) starting up from the plain in the most peculiar forms, as the accompanying wood-cut will show.

A

We passed the site of a former place, but at present there were only nomadic encampments of Fúlbe cattle-breeders, with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and only little cultivation was to be seen. The dwellings in a hamlet which we passed a little farther on were of a very irregular description, corresponding to the corn-stacks which we had left on one side a little before, as represented in the accompanying wood-cut. All the children here, even those of the

Fúlbe, were quite naked. My companion, El Waláti, wanted to obtain quarters in this place; but fortunately the huts proved too bad, and we moved on, another hamlet, which we passed a little farther on, being of a still worse description.

On passing several parties of Fúlbe travelers on our road, I was surprised at the change in the form of compliments, the mode of saluting having been the last few days "baráijo," but to-day we met some parties who saluted us with the well-known compliment "fófo," a word which, although probably of western origin, has been even admitted into the Hausa language, with the meaning of general well-wishing. Thus we proceeded cheerfully onward, having crossed a very difficult boggy ground, where I almost lost one of my camels, till, a little after two o'clock in the afternoon, we reached the poor village of Dúna, consisting of three detached groups of huts, one of which, with its high tower-like granaries