The river, at this point, was frequented by several hippopotami, one of which, in its pursuit of good pasturage in the dusk of the evening, left the shore far behind it, and was pursued by my companions, who fired at it, without however hurting it or preventing its reaching the water. [Sidenote: Monday, July 10th.] It was a beautiful morning; and while the Wádáwi crossed over to the island in order to fetch a supply of rice, I had sufficient leisure to look around me. The shore on this side presented little of interest, and was only scantily adorned with trees, but the island was richly clothed with vegetation. The only interesting feature in the scenery was the opposite shore, with the imposing cliffs of Bornu, where we had been encamped some time before. When at length we started, we were soon obliged to leave the shore in order to avoid an extensive swamp, and approached the hills, at the foot of which we had to cross a small creek, which during a great part of the year forms the border of the river itself, and then continued along the downs. Numbers of people, who had their temporary abode in the swampy plain, came to pay me their compliments. These people are called Gá-bíbi, a name which is said to have reference to their black tents, which distinguish them from the matting dwellings of the Gá-béro. I was here not a little surprised at the swarms of locusts which the wind drove into our faces, and which certainly indicated our approach to more fertile regions. Proceeding in this manner, we reached a fine camping-ground in an opening of the slope of the downs, through which a path led to the interior, thus giving to the herds of cattle access to the river, and therefore called Dúniyáme, “the watering-place of the cattle.” A fine hájilíj afforded a cool shade, the vegetation in general consisting only of fernán, retem, and bú-rékkeba, and we at once decided to halt here, in order to await our guide, Hamma- Hamma, one of the Gá-béro, who had gone to visit his family, but had promised to rejoin us at this spot. The situation of our camping-ground afforded us an interesting prospect over the valley; and numbers of the inhabitants of the neighbouring hamlets and camps visited us in the course of the evening, and even supplied us with a tolerable provision of milk late at night. [Sidenote: Tuesday, July 11th.]