Having separated from our friends, and made our way with some difficulty through a tract of country partly inundated, we at length fell in with a well-trodden path, where on our right a low hilly chain approached. Here a little dúm-bush began to appear, and, further on, monkey-bread trees adorned the landscape; but the river, after having approached for a short time with its wide valley, retired to such a distance, that not having provided a supply of water, we began to suffer from thirst. I therefore rode in advance and chose a place for a short halt during the midday heat, where a sort of fáddama, which during the highest state of the inundation forms a considerable open sheet of water round an island thickly clad with dúm-palms, indents the rising bank of the river, offering, even at the present time, a handsome tank of clear water. The surrounding slope was adorned with a fine grove of dúm-palms, and, protected by the shade of some rich hájilíj, produced a great profusion of succulent herbage. Having rested in this pleasant spot for a couple of hours, we pursued our march along this green hollow at present half dried up, and feeding also a good many tamarind trees, and after a march of about half a mile, reached the spot where this shallow branch joins a considerable open arm of the river, which here is tolerably free from rocks. A little below, it is compressed between rocky masses projecting from either bank, intersecting the whole branch, so that only a narrow passage is left, enclosed as it were by a pair of iron gates formed by nature. Yet the navigation was not obstructed even at the present season, as a boat about thirty-five feet long and rowed by six men, which went quickly past us, evidently proved. The path was lined with mushrooms, called by my companions tobl e ndéri. This branch of the river presented a very different aspect when, after having ascended a rising ground, we had cut off a bend or elbow of the river, for here it formed a kind of rapid, over which the water foamed along, and from the circumstance of the boat having followed another branch, this locality did not seem to be passable at present. The low shores, which are annually inundated, and even now left swampy ground between us and the river, were cultivated with rice; the higher ground, rising above the reach of the inundation, bordered by a belt of damankádda and thorny bushes, was reserved for millet; and beyond, the whole valley, which is here very broad, is bordered by a mountainous chain. The rocky nature of the river was further demonstrated by a remarkable group of rocks rising from an island a little further on, and affording a very conspicuous landmark; but, in general, this part of its course seems to be free from cliffs.