We had considerable difficulty in obtaining from the inhabitants a small supply of rice and butter, as they asserted that their means were so reduced that they were sustaining themselves entirely on býrgu, or native grass; but I had reason to suspect that they made this statement through fear of the Tawárek. At all events, tobacco was the only article they offered for sale, the tobacco of Bamba, called “sherikíye,” being far-famed along the Niger, and much sought after, although it is not so good as the “tábowé,” the tobacco of Égedesh. Of býrgu, they have an unlimited supply; and I tasted here the honey water which they prepare from it, but found it insipid, besides being slightly purgative, not unlike the maddi, or góreba water, in Háusa. [Footnote 28: Áhmed Bábá, in Journal of Leipsic Oriental Society, vol. ix. p. 547.] [Footnote 29: See the highly interesting account of this place, the great commercial _entrepôt_ between Ghána in the west and Tademékka in the east, in El Bekrí, “Déscription de l’Afrique,” p. 180. The express mention of the ants which he here makes is very important, as, in coming from Timbúktu, the first ants were observed by us near Hendi-kíri.] CHAP. LXXVI. THE DESERT. — COUNTRY ALONG THE BORDER OF THE RIVER. — GREATEST NARROWING. — SOUTH-EASTERLY BEND. A slight fall of rain, and then a thunder-storm, which, however, passed over our heads without discharging itself, delayed our departure in the afternoon; and the camels having been sent to a great distance for a little pasture, it was past five o’clock when we left our camping- ground. A numerous crowd of Rumá, Songhay, and Ímóshagh having assembled to witness my departure, I distributed a good many small presents among them, reserving the few articles of value which I still possessed for mightier chiefs. Having crossed, after a march of two miles, a backwater much overgrown with grass, and at present almost dry, we had the fáddama or bot-há of the river close on our right, while the open water was at about an hour’s march distance. Here a considerable amount of cultivation was seen, a good many grounds for corn and tobacco being laid out and connected with the river by channels, through which the water during the highest state of the inundation approached closely, and rendered irrigation very easy; but unfortunately a heavy thunder-storm, rising in a tremendous battery of clouds, and enveloping the whole country in a dense mass of sand, did not allow of any exact observations being made. The many channels which here intersected our road, proved a disagreeable hindrance in our hurried march, and although the clouds passed by without bringing any rain, yet darkness set in before we had reached our destination, and to my great disappointment prevented my noticing the whole character of the district.