obliged me to comply with this slight request, although it was by no means a pleasant matter to lay my hands on all these dirty heads. On the whole it was very fortunate that we met with these people; for without their aid and information we should scarcely have been able to cross the water which intersected our track, at least without a most serious loss to our luggage. People in Europe have no idea what it is to travel during the rainy season in these regions; else they would not wonder that poor Dr. Vogel, in going at that time of the year from Yákoba to Záriya, lost most of his instruments, and all his collections, in crossing the rivers. They were poor people from Gʿaó, or Gógó, and the neighbourhood, a mixture, as I thought at the time, of Songhay and Tawárek, but speaking only the language of the former; but I found afterwards that they belonged to the tribe of the Gabéro, of whom I shall speak in the following volume. They had visited the market of Aribínda, and were at present on their way to Dóre and Libtáko, carrying as merchandise, on a couple of asses and bull oxen, nothing but cotton strips, or “tári,” rice, and a few mats, of which latter article they brought me three as a present. Having received my blessing, and the tumult having quieted down, they conducted us to a place where they declared the water to be fordable. But the boggy ground inspired us with but little confidence; and it really caused us an immense deal of trouble. My people were obliged to carry all the luggage, even the heaviest, across the swamp, which was half a mile in breadth, the camels being scarcely able to make their way, even unloaded; and I myself had the misfortune to fall under my horse, in the midst of the swamp, almost as badly as had happened to me on a former occasion, on my journey to Kánem. I was firmly convinced that my horse would not be able to carry me over, and that it would be the safest way to cross the bog on foot; but I allowed myself to be swayed by the Waláti, who thought that my dignity, in presence of those native travellers, absolutely required me to remain on horseback. It was on this occasion that all my journals got wet through in a most miserable way, and we had the greatest difficulty in extricating my horse from the bog, in which it was lying for some minutes as if dead. It was almost three o’clock in the afternoon when we again set out from the opposite side of the swamp; but we had first to return, along the water, in a north-easterly direction, in order to regain the direct track. We then proceeded at an expeditious rate, in order to arrive at Aribínda before nightfall. A short distance before we reached our destination, the whole character of the country changed, granite mounds rising on our right and left to considerable altitude, and leaving only a narrow passage through which to proceed,—the beautifully sweeping slope of the eminence on our right being pleasantly adorned with bushes, and enlivened by goats.