At length we emerged from the dense vegetation of the fertile but neglected vale, and ascended higher ground, which separates the dallul Máuri from the dallul Fógha[62], and after a while obtained a sight of the hilly chain bordering the east side of the latter valley, which runs from N. 20° E. to S. 20° W., being at the broadest part about 1000 yards across. These valleys certainly form a very remarkable feature in this quarter, and, by their shallow character and the total want of a current in the water here collected, evidently prove the little inclination which the country has towards the Niger, as well as the limited extent of ground which they drain; and it seems extremely doubtful whether, even after the plentiful rains which occasionally fall in the mountainous country of Ásben, the watercourses of that region have even the slightest connection with these shallow vales which join the Niger. It was half-past four in the afternoon when, greatly fatigued by our long and slow march, we gradually descended the shelving ground into the valley of Fógha, the beautifully sloping banks of which are adorned with a profusion of dúm palms, but are entirely wanting in deléb palms. Crossing then the green vale, which was clothed with rank grass, and only presented here and there a broken sheet of water, we reached the first salt-manufacturing hamlet, which is situated on a mound of rubbish of almost regularly quadrangular shape, and of about thirty feet elevation, not unlike the ancient towns of Assyria, while at its foot a shallow dirty pond of brackish water of almost black colour spread out,—the whole scenery forming a very remarkable _ensemble_, of which an attempt has been made to give a fair representation in the plate opposite. [Illustration: Drawn by J. M. Bernatz, from a Sketch by Dr. Barth. M. & N. Hanhart, lith. et impt. RÁFIN FÓGHA.]