In consequence I ordered my servants to get my luggage ready; but before I started I received a visit from a large number of courtiers, with an agíd at their head, in order to bid me farewell, and also to entreat me for the last time to sell to the sultan my fine “kerí-sassarándi” (horse). But this I was obliged to refuse, stating that I wanted my horse for myself, and that I had not come to their country as a merchant, but as a messenger. It had always been a subject of great annoyance to them that I refused to sell my horse, as all the people who visit this country from the other side of Bórnu are in the habit of bringing horses with them expressly for sale. They revenged themselves, therefore, by giving me another nick-name, as an ambitious and overbearing man,—“dérbaki ngólo.” But I would not have parted with the companion of my toils and dangers for all the treasures in the world, although it had its faults, and was certainly not then in the best condition. I had some foreboding that it might still be a useful companion on many an excursion; and it was in reality still to carry me for more than two years, and was to excite the envy both of my friends and enemies in Timbúktu as it had done here. Having received the letter of the sultan, with the contents of which I could not but express myself highly satisfied[61], I set fairly out on my journey; and my heart bounded with delight when, gaining the western gate, I entered the open country, and once more found myself at liberty. The whole country was adorned with the most beautiful verdure, the richest pasture-grounds and fine corn-fields alternately succeeding each other; but as for the crop, the height which it had attained in the different fields varied greatly,—it being in one field as high as five feet, and the seed just coming out, while in another field, close by, the young crop was only shooting out of the ground. This was in consequence of no rain having fallen in the beginning of the season for nearly a month, a circumstance which had deterred many people from confiding their seed to the ground. Further on, there was much cultivation of beans. Having now no necessity for laying down the path, with which I was sufficiently acquainted, I could surrender myself entirely to the general impression of the landscape, the whole aspect of the country being greatly changed. Beyond the Felláta village which I have mentioned on my outward journey, we had to cross an extensive sheet of water, and the ground was often very difficult to pass with my camel; so that we were full of anxiety with regard to the swampy country of Logón. Indeed the people who met us on the road did not fail to warn us that this was not the right animal for this season of the year; and there is no doubt that pack-oxen, on account of their sure-footedness, have a great advantage in travelling during this part of the year, though they are difficult to get across the rivers.