The natives are industrious, both in cultivating the ground and in weaving; and these habits seemed to be favoured by Providence, so that while all the neighbouring districts were suffering from dearth and famine, in this village corn was plentiful, especially Negro millet, or “héni.” Indian millet, “sába” or “háme,” was rather scarce. But the corn was still in seed and not pounded, so that we were obliged to stay here again a day in order to have a supply prepared for us. We bought our corn, in the beginning, for the farráwel which we had brought from Libtáko; but after a little while the inhabitants refused to accept of this cotton, which is not so good as their own manufacture. The cotton which I had brought from Gando was much better than theirs; but it did not please them, on account of the narrowness of the strips. My English darning-needles were, however, very acceptable, as being exceedingly well adapted for the coarse texture of their woollen shawls and blankets. Fifty of them fetched here a price equal to the value of a Spanish dollar; but the small common needles were regarded by them with the utmost contempt. I employed my time, as far as the rainy weather would allow me, in taking a walk through the country; and I was not a little surprised when I found that the ground hereabouts, particularly towards the west, was very rocky, the corn being sown in the intervening patches of arable soil. On a rising spot, a few hundred yards from the village, there was a group of matting huts, which constituted a small weaving manufactory. At the foot of the hill on which the village was situated, there was a deep pond covered with _Pistia Stratiotes_, like the ponds in the interior of Kanó; and it was from here that I was particularly struck by the fortlike appearance of the village, with its receding and projecting angles, and its half-circular, bastionlike walls in other places, as represented in the accompanying woodcut; while in the distance the mountain groups formed an interesting background. However, we had here such a heavy fall of rain that I was obliged to sacrifice another day, as the roads were rendered totally impassable. The rain which fell in the afternoon of the last day of July was of such violence that a fourth part of the houses in the town suffered more or less; and in one dwelling, which was totally destroyed, eleven goats were killed, while the inmates themselves had only just time to escape. It was discovered that just life enough remained in these poor animals in order to enable their owners to perform the essential ceremony of cutting their throats; for they also have a touch of Islám. [Illustration]