Leaving the walled town of Júggurú (surrounded by a good many monkey- bread trees) on the hills to our left, we reached, after a march of about five miles along the border of the valley, and only once crossing a romantic rocky defile, the considerable town of Diggi; and here I had the satisfaction of being officially received by three sons of the governor of Zogírma, who quite unexpectedly came galloping up to the front and saluted me, wishing me all possible success on my dangerous undertaking, and bidding me welcome to the province of their father. The eldest of the three was a very handsome young man, and splendidly mounted upon a tall grey horse. Pursuing then our march in their company, we immediately entered the wide fáddama which separated us from Zogírma; and it took us more than three hours to cross this shallow swampy valley, the whole of which at the end of the rainy season is filled with water, but which at present was only intersected by two broken sheets of stagnant water, while I endeavoured in vain to make out, at this spot, an uninterrupted channel of the gulbi: and yet, in the month of September, the whole valley is flooded by a river of considerable breadth. The town, which was surrounded by a clay wall in good repair, impressed me as being more considerable than I had supposed it to be. We were led immediately to our quarters, and were here treated with very good tíggera, or prepared millet and sour milk; after which a large calabash full of rice, and, a short time after, a heifer, were brought me as a present. Later in the afternoon I went to pay my respects to the governor, Hámed Búrtu, and found him a very decent-looking man of from fifty to sixty years of age, with almost European features, but with rather a melancholy expression of countenance. His residence had a very stately appearance, and surprised me not a little by its style of architecture, which approached to the Gothic, although the fine and well-ornamented clay walls were only loosely held together by a framework of boards and branches. Presenting to him a red bernús of middling quality, a piece of muslin, a pair of razors, and some other trifles, I delivered to him the letter with which Khalílu had furnished me, and explained to him how the ruler of Gando had given me hopes of his being able to conduct me safe to Fógha; for the two horsemen whom I had with me, one from Gando and the other from Sókoto, were only of service as long as there was anything to eat and while there was no great danger. He received my address in the most cheerful manner, and informed me that there were two roads, one of them leading straight on through the midst of the forest from Zogírma to the town of Kallíul. This he said was the safest, though it was probably too difficult for my heavily-laden camels. The other, he added, was more convenient but very unsafe. He promised, however, that he would find trustworthy men to escort me.