Here, where an open branch of the river was seen dividing into two smaller arms, we obtained a view of the town of Bamba, or rather of its date-palms, which waved their feathery foliage over a sandy promontory. However, the sky was by no means clear. Soon we reached this spot, and I was highly delighted at seeing again some fine specimens of the date- palm, having scarcely beheld a single one since leaving Kanó. The trees on the western side of the village are formed into groups, and in their neglected state, with the old dry leaves hanging down from under the fresh ones, formed a very picturesque spectacle. On the east side, also, where we were encamped, close to a magnificent tamarind, were two tall slender specimens of this majestic tree; but altogether there were scarcely more than forty full-grown date-palms. They are said to furnish a good kind of fruit, but, not having tasted them myself, I cannot give an opinion as to their quality. The village, at present, consists of about two hundred huts, built of mattings, and oval-shaped; for, besides a small mosque, there are only two or three clay buildings, or rather magazines, one of which belongs to Bábá Áhmed, a younger brother of the Sheikh El Bakáy, who generally resides here; at present, however, he was absent. Such is the condition of this place at present; but there cannot be any doubt that it was of much more importance three centuries ago, as it is repeatedly mentioned in the history of Songhay; and its situation—at a point where the river, from having been spread at least during a great part of the year over a surface of several miles, is shut in by steep banks and compressed at the narrowest point to from 600 to 700 yards—must have been of the highest importance, at a time when the whole of the region along this large navigable river was comprised under the rule of a mighty kingdom of great extent, and even afterwards, when it had become a province of Morocco. This was evidently the reason why the place was fortified at that time, and probably it had formerly a strong fortress, constantly occupied by a garrison, which accounts for the Tawárek, even at the present day, calling the whole place by the name of Kásba. It also serves to explain the fact, that the whole population of the village, even at the present time, consists of Rumá, the progeny of the musketeers who conquered this province for the Emperor of Morocco. But, while in former times they were the ruling race, at present they drag on a rather miserable existence, the protection of the Kunta being scarcely sufficient to defend them against the daily contributions levied upon them by the overbearing rulers of the desert. A short time previously the chief Sadáktu had driven away almost all their cattle.