About 1500 yards below this ledge, in a south-easterly direction, we reached the iron gates of Akarámbay, where the river, or at least this westerly branch of it, is forced through between two considerable masses of rock, at present from thirty-five to forty feet high, and about as many yards distant from each other. On the right, the sandy downs rise to a considerable elevation opposite a large hamlet, situated on the island Ansóngho, and adorned with dúm-palms. Following a south-easterly direction, in a short time we reached the place where the several branches into which the river had divided at Ádar-andúrren again join; but being full of ledges and rocks, at least in the present low state of the water, they exhibited a wild and sombre aspect. The river, however, does not long retain this character, and a little more than half a mile below, it widens to a broad and tolerably open sheet of water, the shore, which hitherto had been clothed only with the gloomy fernán, being now beautifully adorned with an isolated tamarind tree, which (together with the dúm-palms on the island of Ansóngho), might well serve as a landmark to people who would attempt to ascend this river. But the hills, which ascended to a height of 300 feet, approached so closely the bank of the river, that we were obliged to ascend the steep slope, which was thickly clothed with fernán, and being torn by many small watercourses, scarcely afforded a passage for the camels. Descending from the slope, we reached the Teauwent, or place of embarkation of Burre, a hamlet lying on the opposite shore, but at present deserted, where the river forms only a single branch, from 800 to 900 yards wide, and a little further on about 1000, and on the whole unobstructed, with the exception of a few rocks near the shore. Having here passed a rocky cone, projecting into the river, we encamped near a cluster of anthills, formed by and adorned with the bushes of the _Capparis sodata_; but it was a very inauspicious place, as the camels, not finding food enough in the neighbourhood, were, through the negligence of Ábbega, lost in the evening, and it cost us the whole forenoon of the following day to find them again. When we at length started, I was obliged to yield to the wishes of my companions, who, in order to obtain some supplies for their journey, were most anxious to halt near a small farming village of a Púllo settler, Mohammed-Sídi, a distant relation of Mohammed-Jebbo, who had settled here several years before amongst Tawárek and Songhay; and my friends, having been informed that this person was a pious and liberal man, felt little inclination to forego such an opportunity of receiving a few alms.