The river here changes its direction to the west, being probably joined by another branch, which, however, I did not see, and we began steering in that direction, soothing our disappointment at not moving directly towards the object of our voyage with the animated songs of our boatmen, who accompanied the movements of their oars with a barbarous, but not unmelodious, account of the deeds of the great Áskia. A great many herds of cattle were to be seen on the left or southern side of the river, and gave life to the scenery. Our living also was not so bad, a couple of fine fishes, which we had succeeded in buying from some fishermen, having been prepared over the fire and affording us an excellent dinner. The farther we proceeded onward the more the channel widened, becoming free from reeds, although occasionally adorned by a floating layer of water-lilies. However, beyond the village of Gurijígge, or Guridígge, the current became so strong that, in order to avoid it, we chose rather to enter the reeds, which broke the force of the water. It is natural that, as this is not a river of itself fed by its own sources, but merely a backwater caused by the overflow of the great river, the current in general must come from the latter, and proceed inland. Having kept for some time along the reed-grass of the southern shore in a winding direction, we again emerged into open water, where the poles of our boatmen, which measured about eighteen feet in length, found no bottom; and we kept steadily on, although occasionally quite alarmed by our south-westerly direction, which threatened to carry us rather to Hamda-Alláhi than to Timbúktu; till at length, a few miles on this side of the town of Goilo, we changed our direction to W.N.W., and, passing some floating reed islands, seemed to be in a fair direction to reach the chief object of our journey. But a storm that had been gathering induced us with the approach of night to moor the boat in a wide grassy creek of the eastern shore, in order to shelter ourselves from the strong wind, which easily upsets this light craft. Four fishing-boats were lying not far from us, and with their lights gave us a feeling of society; but the numerous swarms of mosquitoes molested us not a little, and the barking of an animal in the water greatly excited my curiosity. On inquiry, I learned that it proceeded from the young alligators, or rather zangway. These boats have no means of approaching the shallow shore. Hence it is necessary for the passengers, two or three times a day, to wade through deep water backwards and forwards. This, coupled with the great quantity of water continually filling the bottom of these boats, is the reason why all the people who travel along the Niger are subject to rheumatism. The governor of Sáy, as I have already mentioned, in consequence of his voyage up the river to Gágho, had become quite lame. [Sidenote: Friday, September 2nd.]