Forest and cultivated ground then again succeeded each other alternately; and having passed a farming-village of some extent called Tanna, we took up our quarters about four miles beyond, in a village called Tóndifú, but were obliged to use force to obtain a hut for our use, as the head man of the village was too lazy, or too obstinate, to leave his cool shed in the heat of the day: probably here also the news of the proceedings of their countrymen in Zaberma kept the minds of the people in a state of excitement. The hamlet, which is rather a miserable one, has received its name from lying at the commencement of a rocky district, which extends from here to the river, a hill or mound being called “tóndi” in the Songhay language. We were now close to the Niger; and I was justified in indulging in the hope that I might the next day behold with my own eyes that great river of Western Africa, which has caused such intense curiosity in Europe, and the upper part of the large eastern branch of which I had myself discovered. [Sidenote: Monday, June 20th.] Elated with such feelings, I set out the next morning, at an early hour; and after a march of a little less than two hours, through a rocky wilderness covered with dense bushes, I obtained the first sight of the river, and in less than an hour more, during which I was in constant sight of this noble spectacle, I reached the place of embarkation, opposite the town of Say. [Illustration: Drawn by J. M. Bernatz, from a Sketch by Dr. Barth. M. & N. Hanhart, lith. et impt. THE ÍSA (NIGER) AT SAY. June 20th. 1853.] In a noble unbroken stream, though here, where it has become contracted, only about 700 yards broad, hemmed in on this side by a rocky bank of from twenty to thirty feet in elevation, the great river of Western Africa (whose name, under whatever form it may appear, whether Dhiúlibá, Máyo, Eghírrëu, Ísa, Kwára, or Báki-n-rúwa, means nothing but “the river,” and which therefore may well continue to be called the Niger) was gliding along, in a N.N.E. and S.S.W. direction, with a moderate current of about three miles an hour. On the flatter shore opposite, a large town was spreading out, the low rampart and huts of which were picturesquely overtopped by numbers of slender dúm palms. This is the river-town, or “ford,” the name Say meaning, in this eastern dialect, “the river.” The Fúlbe call it Ghútil, which name may originally have been applied to the ford at the island of Oitilli. The banks at present were not high; but the river, as it rises, approaches the very border of the rocky slope.