Being an intelligent man, who had had dealings with a great many people, he had some slight suspicion that I was not what my companions represented me to be. While I was sitting in my tent reading attentively a passage referring to these regions in the excellent little book of Mr. Cooley on the Negroland of the Arabs, which has rendered me very great assistance in directing my inquiries in these countries, he made his appearance very abruptly, and seemed rather surprised at finding me reading characters which he well knew were not Arabic; but, nevertheless, he suppressed his suspicions. Perhaps in consequence of the intrigues of El Waláti, he laid claims to the horse which I myself rode. The eagerness of the women hereabout to obtain tobacco was very remarkable, and they pestered my servants during a great part of the night. [Sidenote: Saturday, August 27th.] We set out on our last day’s journey by land, in order to reach the place where we were to embark on the river. Having emerged from the low swampy ground, we entered again sandy downs, principally clothed with háskanít, damankádda, and bú-rékkeba or _Panicum colonum_, and, having left on one side a smaller channel, we reached the branch of Fatta, which extends almost as far as Sarayámo, running parallel to several other creeks, called after the villages Kásba, Haibóngo, and Benesénga, which intersect the district named Bóddu. The water at first formed a narrow irregular channel of about 200 yards wide, very much resembling an artificial canal, as is the case with a great many of these backwaters, but gradually it began to widen, affording excellent soil for the cultivation of rice. Between this channel and the river, there are several other branches, which appear to join the creek which I navigated from Sarayámo. Altogether, in this level part of the Niger, the river appears to spread out in a labyrinth of channels and watercourses. As for the rice which was grown here exclusively, it appeared to have been just sown with the assistance of the dew, which suffices for its growth till the river rises and spreads its inundation.