Thursday, February 8th.—Having taken leave of the sultan, I put all my baggage, except one trunk and the canteen, into the Gadado’s house, as well to prevent robbery as to guard against fires, which are very common in Soccatoo; taking my two camels and all my servants for Magaria. At 8 A.M. one of my camels being sickly and weak, we travelled very slowly until 3 P.M., when I halted at a village near the road-side, where the head man gave me a hut to sleep in; and the river being about two miles distant to the north, we sent the camels out to feed, and left Richard and Allah Sirkie to pitch the tent and take care of the horses. I went down to the river side with the gun, to look at the hunting ground: I was attended by Malem Moodie, the owner of the village, on horseback, and about twenty of his slaves. He is the only free man in the village, which consists of about seventy men, women, and children. After descending the rocky and gravelly side of the hill over which the road lies, I came upon the flat, which spreads out about four miles to the foot of the high ground or low hills. On the north side, the river overflows all the flat during the rains; and the former course of the river has left several pools and beautiful lakes of water. The soil in the flat is generally a blue clay and mould to a depth of from three to four feet; in the upper parts planted with cotton and gourds, and the other parts, during the rains, with rice, which is of a very good quality. The river runs at this place in a narrow winding bed, about twelve feet deep; the banks sandy below the strata of clay and mould; and the falling of trees, and the looseness of the soil, cause it often to shift its bed through the flats or swamps in the rainy season. The acacia trees were in blossom, and the traces of elephants were numerous. I saw only three antelopes, but great numbers of guinea-fowl, which were too wild to come near, as they are so much hunted by the young Fellatas; so I returned without any thing. I was very anxious to have shot a wild boar, of which there were great numbers; but Malem Moodie was quite shocked at the thought of my wanting the skin, so that he would not, I suppose, have let me or my people have any supper if I had touched it; though he had no objection to my shooting as many as I pleased of their Kaffirs and Eblis. I returned to my hut in the village, when the Malem, at meal-time, sent me a large store-pudding, and gravy made of butter and the leaves of the adansonia, with corn for my horses.