Before we started I began conversing with the people of the encampment (the chief of whom, a man of renowned valour, is called Hammaláti) in a cheerful manner. Whereupon they praised me as an excellent man, but made at the same time the candid avowal that the preceding night, when I did not speak a word, they felt a great antipathy towards me. Having proceeded at a tolerable rate as far as this place, we here once more relapsed into our usual slow mode of progress; and after a short march of scarcely three miles over a ground strewn with pebbles and small stones, and clad only with scanty vegetation, we encamped close to the steep bank which descended towards the river opposite the island of Zamgoy, for here we were told was the residence of Sadáktu, the chief who had levied such heavy contributions upon the inhabitants of Bamba. As the country itself did not present any features of interest, it was some recompense to me for the delay we met with in this place, that the character of the river was remarkable; and in order to enjoy it as much as possible, I prepared myself a resting place on the slope of the bank, which was thickly overgrown with small trees. It is here that the beginning of the rocky district through which the river takes its course is first perceptible. The western end of a small island is entirely surrounded by large granite blocks, which have given to the island the remarkable name of Tahónt-n-éggish, clearly indicating that even the natives themselves regard this place, for him who comes down the river, as the “entrance-rock,” or the beginning of the rocky district. The island of Zamgoy lies nearer to the southern shore, and seems to be of considerable extent, densely clothed with trees, and containing a small hamlet, or ádabay. Besides the view of the river, and a walk now and then over the desert ground in our neighbourhood, where I observed the ruins of some stone dwellings, I had plenty of occupation during this and the three following days which we remained here, in conversing with the natives.