The governor of Dalla is said to be more powerful than even that of Gilgóji, with whom he is in an almost continual state of feud, as is the case with nearly all these petty chiefs, although they are all the vassals of one and the same liege lord. This man, however, was to become of remarkable interest to me; for I was soon to meet him again under very altered circumstances, when, from being an object of fear to myself, he was obliged to sue for my protection, as will be seen in the sequel. The country hereabout presented a sandy level mostly clad with acacias, and especially with a kind called érria. About eight miles beyond Nyanga Segga, the ground became swampy; and after a march of about two miles more we reached the fields of Mundóro, or rather their site, for, in the present desolate state of the country, they were not under cultivation at the time. Here the soil consisted of deep white sand adorned with large baobab trees, while parallel on our right, at the distance of about five hundred yards, a range of sandhills stretched along, overtopped in the distance by an imposing cone belonging to the Hómbori mountains. Thus reaching, at last, cultivated ground, where the crops, however, were still very scanty and in a neglected state, we entered, a little after two o’clock, the deserted village of Mundóro, which till recently had been a considerable town, consisting of a small kasrlike place, of dwellings built of clay, and with very pointed thatched roofs, similar to those represented above, and an open suburb of spacious cottages, consisting of thatchwork of a very peculiar shape, as represented in the accompanying woodcut. With the exception of about a dozen people, the place was quite deserted, the former chief, Mahamúdu, having fallen into disgrace with the governor of Dalla, and sought refuge with the inhabitants of Mósi, from whence he carried on a continual series of expeditions against his kinsmen. Fortunately we were accompanied by a trooper of the governor of Dalla, who took great care in supplying us with necessaries. All the huts were very spacious, but the thatching was not of very accurate workmanship, and the humidity which entered my hut in the course of the night, when we experienced a violent thunder-storm with very heavy rain, was considerable; but keeping up a large fire during the whole of the night, I felt tolerably comfortable, although the greater part of my hut was under water. [Illustration] [Sidenote: Sunday, August 7th.]