Proceeding through this rich but distracted and unsafe district, I was greatly delighted when, near the walled town of Kardi, I fell in with a solitary and courageous pilgrim, a Jolof, from the shores of the Atlantic, carrying his little luggage on his head, and seemingly well prepared to defend it with his double-barrelled gun which he carried on his shoulder, and a short sword hanging at his side, while his shirt was tossed gallantly up, and tied over the shoulder, behind the neck. In my joy at the sight of this enterprising native traveller, I could not forbear making him a small present, in order to assist him in his arduous undertaking. The walls of the town of Kardi, which is chiefly inhabited by the slaves of Khalílu, and which is of great importance for the supply of corn in this province, were strengthened by a thick fence of thorny bushes, which, in these regions, afford an immense advantage in the defence of any town, by furnishing a secure place of retreat to the archers. The green bottom of the wide fáddama had receded to a greater distance on our right; but we joined it again seven miles from Gúlumbé, and had here to cross it beyond a couple of hamlets which, lying close together and called, the one Háusáwa, and the other Kábáwa, gave us a slight indication as to the history of this country, where the Háusa element, as the more civilized, gradually gained the upper hand and drove the native element as well as the Songhay, which advanced from the west, into the background. Perhaps, if we knew more of the history of this country, the annals of these two villages might open to us a view of an interesting national struggle. The fáddama was here at present dry; and besides yams a great deal of tobacco was cultivated. We then traversed a wooded tract adorned with a violet _liliacea_ and with the bush tsáda or bidér, the delicious cherrylike fruit of which I have mentioned repeatedly, and, slightly ascending, reached, a little before eleven o’clock, the beautiful site of the former more extensive wall of the large town of Bírni-n-Kebbi. It was founded in this commanding position by the dynasty of the Kanta, at the time when the rival Songhay empire was dashed to pieces and became the prey of foreigners and of a number of small tribes, who had once been kept in a state of insignificance and subjection.