The country here, as well as near Bodínga, is almost exclusively adorned with monkey-bread trees, and the soil seemed to be very parched; but a little further on we descended into a depression which, having been already fertilised by the rain, was just being sown. Further on, the ground continuing undulating, we watered our horses at a rich source of living water which rushed out from the rocks at the side of a small hamlet. We then passed a large and comfortable-looking place called Dendi (perhaps after a portion of that tribe, which settled here) and adorned with a profusion of trees, among which the dorówa or _Parkia_, the góreba or dúm palm, and the gigíña or deléb palm were most conspicuous. Towards the south-east side it was bordered by a depression full of yams and fresh herbage, and fringed by numbers of monkey-bread trees. Even a little market-place was to be seen; and the place seemed so attractive to my people, that they would fain have spent here the rest of the day, and they were not at all pleased when I insisted on continuing our march. A little after noon we passed a pretty village with a small dyeing-place. Besides corn-fields, where the crops were already two inches out of the ground, indigo was cultivated to a great extent. We then entered upon rocky ground, and, five miles further on, reached the place Shagáli, separated into two groups along the northern slope of an eminence, and surrounded on three sides by a deep and wide ravine, which made the access to it very difficult. Here we were rather inhospitably received,—the former mayor having been deposed, and a new one not yet installed in his place. [Sidenote: Monday, May 16th.] Early in the morning we pursued our journey, through a rather hilly country broken by several small watercourses, full of cultivated ground and fine timber, principally monkey-bread trees, which now exhibited a more cheerful appearance, as they were clad in fresh foliage. We passed several villages, where we again observed some signs of industry in the shape of dyeing, and, about six miles and a half from Shagáli, left the considerable place Señína (the same town which a few days before had been attacked by the enemy) on our left, situated on a small hilly chain. Here we entered a tract of country at present desolate, and thickly covered with underwood, and greatly infested by the independent inhabitants of Kebbi; but it was only of small extent, and, about four miles beyond Señína, we entered, by a steep rocky descent, the fine valley of Sála, which is intersected by a considerable sheet of water.