I had now entered again upon the territory of my friend Yúsuf the prince of Logón, and could, without any danger of molestation, freely move about. The weather was very wet; and I twice took refuge in small villages, which were situated in the midst of rich corn-fields, in order to escape a heavy shower. The whole district is called Mókoró, and comprises, besides several villages of lógodé Logón, or people of Logon, ten hamlets of Shúwa, in one of which we took up our quarters. These Shúwa, however, are not distinguished for hospitality; and it required a great deal of negotiation before I was allowed to make myself comfortable in one of these huts, which are very spacious indeed for these countries, being from 50 to 60 feet in diameter: they have besides a very remarkable peculiarity, being furnished with a large bed-room, if I may say so, which occupies the middle of the hut, and consists of a room raised about three feet from the ground, twenty feet long by six to eight feet wide, and the same in height, separated into several compartments, and encompassed all round with mattings of latticework made of fine reeds, in which branch of industry, as I have before observed, the people of Logón are very clever. The matting is of dark colour; but upon my inquiring how they dyed it, I was not a little surprised to hear that it is done by dipping it into the black argillaceous soil. In this secluded room, which is called “ghurára,” these people protect themselves against the innumerable swarms of mosquitoes which infest these low swampy regions during the night. Of course, I could not have any pretensions to this distinguished place, which is reserved for the different members of the family; and I took my station upon a raised platform of clay at the side of the entrance, where I was a little annoyed by the mosquitoes, although, the door having been shut at an early hour, and some cattle inside the hut attracting the attention of this cruel insect in a stronger degree, the numbers were supportable. In other respects I was well treated, the landlord being a wealthy man, of the name of Ádim, and his wife being even a princess or méram of Logón; she was a talkative and cheerful person. They regaled me with a small pancake soon after my arrival, and a dish of rice and milk in the evening. It was extremely interesting to witness the singular kind of living of these people, and to hear them talk their peculiar style of Arabic, which has not yet lost that profusion of vowels which originally characterized this language; but its purity has been greatly impaired by other peculiarities. They have some remarkable customs which connect them with their brethren in the East,—especially the law of retaliation, or e’ dhíye[63] and the _infibulatio_ of the young girls. These Arabs belong to the large tribe of the Sálamát. [Sidenote: Sunday, August 15th.]