Having enjoyed a good night’s rest, tolerably free from mosquitoes, as I had shut my hut at an early hour, I took a walk down to the river, the morning being, as usual, cool and fresh, and a slight breeze having sprung up. The bank on which the town stands was, at present, from twenty-five to thirty feet above the level of the river; but this elevation is of course greatly diminished by the rising of the inundation, the river reaching generally to the very border of the village. That branch which is not in direct connection with the water of Fatta, along which our last day’s march had lain, had no current, and was about 200 yards in breadth. The communication by water along these shallow backwaters of the immense Niger just opening (for in the dry season the connection is interrupted), only one sea-worthy boat was lying here at the time, neither conspicuous for its size nor for its comfortable arrangement, and with two cabins of matting, one in the prow and one in the stern, while another boat, measuring forty feet by eight, was just repairing. All the craft are built of planks sewed or tied together in a very bungling manner. I learned, on this occasion, that it is only at this season of the year that people go from here to Timbúktu, which lies almost exactly north from this place, by an eastern winding; while later in the season they follow a westerly branch. A labyrinth of creeks, backwaters, and channels is in this manner spread over the whole of this country, of which people had no previous idea.