ter, consisting as it did of nothing but the soil of the valley itself, from which the saline particles had been extracted. The salt is here prepared in the following manner. The earth is taken from the bottom of the vale, and put into large funnels made of straw and reeds, when water is poured upon the earth, and strained through the funnels, after which it is caught in vessels placed underneath, and then boiled, and the sediment formed into the shape of a small loaf.

That it is the earth which contains the saline par-. ticles, and not the rank grass which grows here, I am quite sure, although in other places there is no doubt that salt is extracted from the grass growing in such localities: but this can only be done by burning, the salt being extracted from the ashes; and no such process is pursued here. The salt is of a greyish-yellow colour, and quite fit for cooking purposes; it is of a much better quality than the bitter salt of Bílma, although, no doubt, far inferior to the beautiful crystal salt of Taödénni, of which I here saw the first specimen with some Songhay pilgrims, who had left Hómbori four months previously on their way to Mekka. However, such a mode of proceeding is only practicable in the dry, or towards the beginning of the rainy season; for at the end of the latter the valley is quite full of water, which then is fresh, and is said to contain plenty of fish, the saltish properties of the soil being too scanty and inconsiderable to impregnate so large body of

CHAP. LIX.

THE SALT OF FO'GHA.

229

water. Even at present a considerable quantity of the aqueous element had already collected, filling, in some places, the whole width of the valley between the two banks, to the depth of a foot or two, so that the people could not make use of the soil from the valley itself; but they had stored up a sufficient provision to enable them to carry on their labours for a month or two longer.

The Fúlbe call these places síle-chólli. It is only the salt which induces the inhabitants to remain in this locality; for they have been harassed extremely by their energetic enemy the Déndi. The town of Kallíul had had to sustain, during a very short period, no fewer than five attacks from the latter, whose chief seat, Yélu, closely borders upon their territory; and, in addition to the sad circumstance of all their cattle having died, these people had also lost the whole of their slaves, who, under such circumstances, had run away in a body. The neighbourhood, even at the present moment, was so unsafe, that the people of the town would not allow me to stay in the open hamlet where I was, and wanted me to come to them behind their wall; but fearing longer delay I declined, and fixed my departure for the following day.

Yélu*, the principal place of Déndina the country

*For the other places of Déndina, see Appendix V. Here I will only enumerate a few villages belonging to the districts which we passed on our road from Zogírma, and lying just in the border district of the Songhay and Háusa territories. Close to Júnju lie the following places, or rather hamlets, at present greatly reduced: Ka

of the Déndi (a branch of the Songhay about whom I shall say more on another occasion), is situated only about seven or eight miles lower down this same valley, which joins the Great River at the town of Dóle, and which is especially inhabited by Songhay people. Their well-known and renowned chief, Gójida, had recently died, and had been succeeded by a younger brother of his, of the name of Gódu, who kept up the struggle against the conquering tribe with considerable energy, and probably, if he had been better provided with cavalry, would have long ago established the independence of his countrymen, by driving away the Fúlbe from the valley of Fógha, and thus opening a free intercourse with the countries to the north. But the inhabitants of Kallíul, as I assured myself especially on my return journey, when I entered the town, are hardy warriors, and keep well together, although that little community is ruled by four petty chiefs, Señína, Mámma Yídi, and two brothers called Mámma Gúnga and A'medu Gúnga. Even on the present occasion of my journey westward, these petty chiefs paid me a visit, and I made each of them a small present; but none of them

rákará, 'Abd el 'Azi, Jabóre, Bébé, Dámana, Gangánge. The following places are said to lie along the dallul Fógha; but I am not able to indicate their situation more distinctly: Rúma, Béngu, Baná Harukári, Nyánsamé, Kúduru, Gergánga and Lúdu. There is no such town as "Bírni-n-Fógha," Fógha being only the name of the valley; but not far from Kallíul there is another town called Báura. Most of the villages mentioned are inhabited by pagans.

CHAP. LIX. CHARACTER OF THE FO'GHA PEOPLE. 231

was able to supply me with even the smallest provision of corn, although they all evinced their benevolent disposition, and Señína (who, by wearing a miserable sort of bernús of the poorest description, seemed to vindicate his superiority over his brother chiefs) made me a present of 100 Kóla nuts, which luxury he could more easily spare than a few grains of corn. Mámma Yídi, on the other hand, an elderly gentleman, was distinguished by his amiable conduct, and understood even a little Hausa. Generally speaking, none of the Fúlbe here speak a single word of that language, the valley of Fógha forming the boundary between the Háusa and the Songhay languages. I likewise received a visit from two sons of the kádhi or alkáli, one of whom, of the name of 'Abd el Wahabi, was a remarkably handsome man, of very gentlemanlike bearing, more like a European in his countenance than a native of Negroland, and of a melancholy turn of mind, which awakened my interest in him.

Tuesday, June 14th.

My two warlike companions from Zogírma, who, by their experience and energetic conduct, had inspired me with almost unbounded confidence, and whom I should have liked to have attached to me for a much longer period, had returned home the moment I reached the border of the valley, finding their only safety in speed and secrecy, and cutting straight across the thickest part of the forest; and, in consequence, I had used all my endeavours to obtain here another escort, but

all in vain. However, Mámma Yídi having promised that a guide should overtake me on the road, I started tolerably early the next morning, in order to pursue my journey through this unsafe wilderness, being anxious not to cause more delay, and thus to increase the danger of my situation in consequence of the news of my proceedings having spread through the neighbourhood; but instead of making right across the country, I was first obliged to retrace my steps northwards, to the very place where I had crossed the valley two days previously, for, Kallíul being anything but a place of trade and commerce, all the little intercourse which is still going on in this region is carried on along the direct road, without touching at this place.

A few hundred yards higher up from this spot, a rich source of excellent fresh water gushes out from the rocky ground, and forms a large sheet in the bottom of the valley, affording a remarkable contrast to the black muddy water which covers the remainder of the surface. Having taken in here a passed several other salt

supply of water, we then hamlets or síle-chólli, and emerging from the valley ascended the higher ground, which presented open pastures with only a little underwood scattered in bushes here and there, principally the gónda bush and the poisonous plant, damankádda, which I have already mentioned repeatedly as forming an ornament of the landscape, at the same time that it endangers the life of the camel.