The locality, which is called Téns-aróri, was of so swampy a character that we looked for some time in vain for a tolerably dry spot to pitch our tents, and it had a most unfavourable effect upon my health. Here we remained this and the two following days: and it became evident that as this chief persisted in his disobedience to his liege lord Alkúttabu, the other more powerful chief, Ákhbi, whose mutinous behaviour had been the chief reason of the former not coming to Timbúktu, would certainly follow his example. The fact was, that, irritated against their superior chief, or more probably treating him with contempt on account of his youth and want of energy, after the death of his predecessor, E’ Nábegha, they had fallen upon his mercenaries, especially the Shémman- Ámmas, and deprived them of their whole stock of cattle. This was the first time that I saw these more easterly Tawárek in their own territory; and I was greatly astonished at their superior bearing in comparison with the Tademékket and Íregenáten, both in their countenance and in their dress. They were also richly ornamented with small metal boxes, made very neatly, and consisting of tin and copper: but it was in vain that I endeavoured to obtain some of them as a curiosity. They wore also a rich profusion of white rings, which are made of the bones of that very remarkable animal the “ayú,” or _Manatus_, which seems to be not less frequent in the western than in the eastern branch of the Niger. As a token of their nobility and liberty, all of them carried iron spears and swords, the degraded tribes not being allowed to make use of these manly weapons. The encampment consisted of about thirty leathern tents, of great size; and, besides the Tarabanása, a party of the Kél-hekíkan of Zíllikay were encamped. This was a less favourable circumstance; for, while as yet I had been always on the best footing with these Tawárek, the latter proved rather troublesome: and I got involved in a religious dispute with one of their chiefs named Ayúb, or Sínnefel, against my inclination, which might have done me some harm. On his asking me why we did not pray in the same manner as themselves, I replied that our God did not live in the east, but was everywhere, and that therefore we had no occasion to offer up our prayers in that direction. This answer appeared to satisfy him: but he affected to be horrified when he heard that we did not practise circumcision, and endeavoured to excite the fanatical zeal of the whole camp against me. I, however, succeeded in partly effacing the bad impression thus caused, by making use of a Biblical expression, and observing that we circumcised our hearts, and not any other part of our body, having expressly abolished that rite, as it appeared to us to be an emblem of the Jewish creed.