This place, which a short time ago was the seat of human wellbeing, had been destroyed by the enemy on the 29th of the preceding month, and all the inhabitants carried into slavery, notwithstanding the presence of the expedition which, as I have mentioned above, marched out from Gando to the succour of their countrymen. The aspect of the place was doleful and melancholy in the extreme, corresponding well with the dangerous situation in which we found ourselves; and while traversing the half- ruined village, which from a bustling little place had become the abode of death, I almost involuntarily snatched my gun, and held it steadily in my hand. But life and death in these regions are closely allied; and we had scarcely left the ruined village behind us, when, in a widening of the fáddama, which again opened on our right, we were greeted by a most luxuriant rice-field, where the crops were already almost three feet high, and girt by the finest border of a rich variety of shady trees, such as the dorówa, kadé, and kágim, overtopped by a number of tall deléb palms, the golden fruit of which, half ripe, was starting forth from under the feathery foliage. But our attention was soon diverted from the enjoyment of this scenery, to a point of greater interest to ourselves. We here observed a solitary individual, in spite of the unsafe state of the country, sitting quietly at the foot of one of the palm trees, and seemingly enjoying its fruit. Now, coupling the present state of the country with the news we had just received, we could not help greatly suspecting this man to be a spy, posted here by the enemy in order to give them information of the passers by; and I had the greatest difficulty in preventing my Méjebrí Arab, who, when there was no danger for himself, always mustered a great amount of courage, from shooting this suspicious-looking character.