When we continued our march, we were gratified to see a wide extent of ground covered with fine cotton plantations; on our left, where the river again approached, much kharrwa, or berkínde, appeared. Further on, fields of millet succeeded to the cotton plantations, and the cultivation now continued without interruption, extending to the slope of the hills, while, on the other side of the river, five villages appeared at short intervals. We then entered upon hilly sandy ground, but even this less favoured tract was covered with fine crops. I had made it a rule, owing to the weakness of my camels, which required a good feed, always to encamp at some distance from a larger place, and we therefore chose our camping-ground about two miles on this side of the town of Bírni, amongst monkey-bread trees and hájilíj, at a short distance from a swampy creek of the river. Our encampment, however, became unpleasant in the extreme, as we had to sustain here a very heavy thunderstorm, accompanied by violent rain. All the inhabitants of this district are Fúlbe, or Songhay speaking the language of the Fúlbe, the conquering tribe of the latter beginning to prevail here almost exclusively. All of them wear indigo-dyed shirts. We also met here an old man, originally belonging to the tribe of the Událen, a section of Imghád, or degraded Tawárek, but at present in the service of a Púllo, who, assisted by his slaves, was just getting his harvest into the town of Bírni, where he invited us to follow him on the approach of night. [Sidenote: Friday, July 28th.] Having lost the greater part of the morning in order to dry ourselves and our animals, we continued our march straight upon a kind of defile, which seemed almost to hem in the passage along the river. The bank here exhibits a peculiar feature, and the locality would be of the highest importance, if the state of the country was in any way settled, for the hilly chain on the right closely joins a group of rocky eminences which nearly approaches the river, and opening towards it in the shape of a horse-shoe, leaves only a very narrow passage between the south-easterly corner of this semicircle of the hills, and a detached cone rising close over the brink of the river, the latter being likewise full of rocks. On the slope of the amphitheatre, called Sáre-góru, about half-way up the height, lies the village or town of Bírni[45], presenting a very picturesque spectacle, notwithstanding the frail character of the dwellings.