We felt the inconvenience of this little hamlet the more, as we were obliged to stay here the following day; for we received a credible report that El Khatír, the most powerful of the neighbouring Tawárek chiefs, intended making a foray against this place, and the inhabitants were in a state of the utmost alarm. But a thunder-storm which broke out the next morning, accompanied with a considerable quantity of rain, relieved us, most providentially, of all danger from this quarter, swelling the many watercourses which intersect this region, to such a degree that they became impassable to the enemy. On the west side of the hamlet where we were encamped there is a considerable suburb of Fúlbe cattle-breeders; and in the evening a great many of them paid me a visit. [Sidenote: Saturday, July 23rd.] We had here entered a district which was very different from that which we had hitherto traversed in the province of Libtáko; and the nature of which caused us great delay, and very serious difficulties, on account of the many rivers and swamps which we had to cross. During the first part of our day’s march, we had the wéndu of Wúlu for a long time on our right, but, having crossed without much difficulty one considerable branch of it, we came to another water with a strong current, which caused us a long delay, as it was at the time about 400 yards across, and not less than four and a half feet deep in the channel. The water at this spot has a southerly course; but it is difficult to say what greater river it joins.[73] For several miles the upper course of this same water, as it seemed, was seen at a short distance on our right. Large wide-spreading “mur,” tamarind, and monkey-bread trees everywhere appeared, and we could see the footsteps of a great number of elephants. The country on our left was undulating, and consisted of sandy soil clothed almost exclusively with the kálgo, with its ash-coloured leaves and its long red pods; but, as soon as the river receded, the character of the landscape also changed, the surface becoming rather level, and exhibiting more small brushwood, while numerous water-pools spread out, overgrown with kréb, or the edible _Poa_, and with molukhía. The district was full of buffaloes; but it was also much infested by a dangerous species of fly, which greatly tormented our animals, and which is very rarely met with in the eastern part of Negroland. We encamped, after a march of about sixteen miles, in the midst of the forest, near the site of the former encampment of a Tawárek horde, where kréb was springing up in the most luxuriant abundance, affording the richest pasture to the horses, and a cheerful sight to ourselves; but we had here to sustain a very heavy rain, which lasted for several hours. Fortunately, it was not accompanied by much wind, so that my frail tent offered sufficient resistance; but the encampment was far from comfortable.