Meanwhile I was applied to by our host and a cousin of his, to decide a dispute between them as to the chieftainship of their village; but, of course, I referred them to their own liege lord, and they started off to join him, near the village of Dúna; but their absence did not expose us to inhospitality, as we were very lavishly treated with numerous dishes of Indian corn, which, however, were rendered less palatable by the use of the dodówa-bosso, or the adulterated dodówa; we also received a good supply of milk. I even bought a few fowls, though they were rather dear, selling for one hundred shells each, a price here reckoned equal to two darning-needles. [Sidenote: Friday, August 5th.] There had been another heavy rain in the afternoon of the preceding day, but, fortunately, it had not been of sufficient duration to render the roads impassable. There was a great deal of indecision with my companion El Waláti as to the route which we should pursue; and while it almost seemed from our northerly direction as if up to this moment he had intended to take me to Hómbori, notwithstanding his former protestations against such a proceeding, he now pretended it was necessary that we should go to Dúna, and we accordingly changed our course to the west, or rather W.S.W., steering about like a vessel with contrary winds. There can be no doubt that all this time the crafty Arab himself was hesitating as to the course which he should take, and this was evidently the reason of his great delay, as he probably thought that he might have a chance of getting rid of me, and taking possession of my property; but we did not become aware of this treacherous conduct till we arrived at the place of our destination, when we learned how providentially we had escaped all his wiles. At the western end of the village of Kúbo there is a suburb of Fúlbe cattle-breeders, consisting of about sixty large huts of reed. As soon as we had left this place behind us, we were quite horror-struck at observing all the paths full of those small red worms which I have mentioned before, marching in unbroken lines towards the village; even my servants were quite surprised at such a spectacle, having never before seen any thing like it, and they gave vent to their feelings of astonishment, and at the same time of commiseration for the natives, in reiterated exclamations of “Wolla, wolla!” I am not acquainted with the reason of this curious phenomenon, but it seems peculiar to this region. Yet the ground was not quite barren, and was even sprinkled with violets here and there, the surface being undulating, not unlike the sandy downs of Kánem, the parallel of which country, namely about 15° of northern latitude, we had here reached.