The country on the other side of the town of Kúrayé seemed to surpass in beauty the district which we had left behind us; and the bentang tree, the sacred tree of the former pagan inhabitants, rose here to its full majestic growth, while, besides the dorówa and the butter tree, the ngábbore (or sycamore) and the dúnnia appeared in abundance. The cultivation was here limited to sorghum or Indian millet. After awhile the ground became rather undulating, and we had to cross several small watercourses, at present dry, while boulders of granite protruded here and there. The path was enlivened by the several troops of horsemen which constituted our expeditionary corps. There was first the governor of Kátsena himself, with a body of about 200 horse; then there was an auxiliary squadron of about fifty horse, sent by Démbo the governor of Kazáure; and lastly Káura, the serkí-n-yáki, or commander-in-chief of Kátsena, with a body of about thirty-five well-mounted troopers. This officer, at the present time, is the most warlike man in the province of Kátsena, and had greatly contributed to the overthrow and disgrace of Sadíku the former governor, in the hope that the government of the province might fall to his share; but he had been sadly disappointed in his expectations. As for the ghaladíma, he had about twenty mounted companions, the most warlike among whom was a younger brother of his, of the name of ʿOmár, or Ghomáro, who was descended from a Púllo mother, and, on account of his noble birth, had better claims to the office of ghaladíma than his brother. Most of these troopers were very fantastically dressed, in the Háusa fashion, and in a similar manner to those I have described on a former occasion. Some of the horses were fine, strong animals, although in height they are surpassed by the Bórnu horses. We watered our cattle in a kúrremi or dry watercourse, which contained a number of wells from one fathom to a fathom and a half in depth, and was beautifully skirted with deléb palms, while a granite mound on its eastern shore, rose to an altitude of from eighty to a hundred feet. I ascended it, but did not obtain a distant view. Near this watercourse the cultivation was a little interrupted; but further on the country became again well cultivated, broken here and there by some underwood, while the monkey-bread tree, the dúm palm, great numbers of a species of acacia called “árred,” and the “merké” dotted the fields. The latter tree, which I have mentioned on a former occasion, bears a fruit which, when mixed with the common native grain, is said to preserve horses from worms. Thus we reached the town of Kúrrefi, or Kúlfi, and were not a little puzzled by the very considerable outworks, consisting of moats, which the inhabitants had thrown up in front of their town, besides the threefold wall, and the double moat which surrounded the latter, as shown in the woodcut. [Illustration: