May 28.—Dr. Oudney and myself mounted our horses this morning, and followed the course of the river to the eastward, nearly three miles: there being no pathway, we were obliged to break through the high grass, trees, and thickly scattered bamboo, which made it a fatiguing excursion, and after all, we could only now and then get a sight of the water by following the track of the elephants and other animals, whose ponderous bodies beat down every thing before them. Our negro, Omar Gana, was alarmed, and would willingly have turned back more than once; we, however, urged him on, and at length came to an open, dry shoal of sand, the bed of the river extending more than two hundred yards; here was the fresh impression of the foot of a very large lion, and we found that the stream was here again called the Yeou. To Omar Gana’s great satisfaction, we now returned by a more direct path through the wood to our tents: these wilds, from their not leading to any high road or inhabited spot, are perhaps never visited, the whole country having been abandoned ever since the Felatahs commenced their inroads. Wild animals of all descriptions here abound therefore in greater numbers than in any other part of the kingdom of Bornou: several parcels of wood tied up with oziers, and large trees stripped of their bark and afterwards deserted, showed how the wood-cutter had been disturbed at his work by the ferocious inhabitants; and some whitened bones, and the remains of a hatchet in one place, made us shudder and conclude, that some one still less fortunate had here met a miserable death. Straggling bands of Tuaricks also sometimes scour the country about the banks of the river, and carry off whatever suits their purpose.