Champaláwel is the residence of the governor of the Tórobe; but it was at that time in the utmost state of decay and almost deserted, the slight remains of the ramparts being almost hidden in a dense forest; for since the decease of Moʿazu (a celebrated chieftain mentioned also in other accounts), who died about twenty years ago, the power of the Fúlbe in this place has greatly declined. The present governor, a younger brother of that energetic chieftain, himself tolerably advanced in years, proved to be a very illiberal and unamiable man, and he would not even assign me quarters on my arrival; so that I had the greatest trouble in taking possession of a miserable little hut on my own account, while good shelter was very essential, as a great quantity of rain fell in the afternoon. However, all was changed when, towards evening, a cousin of the present governor, of the name of ʿOthmán, arrived, and I then received a present of two sheep. I also had the great and unexpected pleasure of meeting here an Arab, of the name of Mohammed el Wákhshi, a near relative of my friend Bú-Bakr el Wákhshi, the Ghadámsi merchant whom I have mentioned repeatedly in the preceding part of my narrative. This man was then on his return from Gonja, the northern tributary province of Asanti,—the Gúro caravan having been induced, by the state of the country, to abandon its direct road from Yendi to Komba on the Niger, in favour of a northerly and very circuitous road by way of Yágha.[67] But I was disappointed in the hope of corresponding with Europe by means of this man. The letter which I gave to him, and which I had already written in Say, never reached its destination, for El Wákhshi succumbed to disease in crossing the province of Núpe in the height of the rainy season, before reaching Kanó. [Sidenote: Wednesday, June 29th.] On leaving this desolate residence of the chief of the Tórobe, reduced to an entangled thicket, we passed the encampment, or zango, of the Gúro caravan, which, as is generally the case, consisted of small round huts, erected for the occasion with branches and rank grass. The caravan consisted of about one hundred individuals, with a couple of hundred of asses, which form the usual beasts of burden of these native travellers. Scarcely a mile beyond the town we had again to cross a river which, bordered by the richest vegetation, and by abundance of rank grass, runs at this spot from S.E. to N.W., with a depth of about three feet, and at times, when a great deal of rain has fallen, forming a far more considerable volume of water.