I therefore cheerfully enjoyed once more the very peculiar character of this river district, with its many creeks, small necks of land, and extensive swamps. Since we had last visited this place the waters had retired considerably, and the extensive swampy lowlands between Temáharót and Ernésse had become quite dry, so that we had to cross only a narrow channel-like strip of water. Following then the sandy downs, we soon reached the well known encampment of the Kél-n-nokúnder, where I was hospitably entertained with a bowl of ghussub water. I was disposed to enjoy in privacy the view over the river, while lying in the shade of a siwák, but the number of Tawárek who were passing by did not allow me much leisure, for the tents of Sául, as well as those of El Wóghdugu, were at a short distance. But these people, conscious of their having deserved punishment at the hand of their liege lord, were frightened away by the rising of a simúm, as it is popularly believed in the country that this wind is the sign of the approach of the great army, or tábu, of the Awelímmiden, and they all started off the next morning. The river, which is here very broad, forms a large low island called Banga-gúngu, the “hippopotamus island,” while a smaller one, distinguished by a fine tamarind tree, is called Búre. I endeavoured in the afternoon to reach the bank of the river itself; but it is beset with a peculiar kind of grass of great height, armed with such offensive bristles that it is almost impossible to penetrate through it. In the latter part of the cold and during the hot season, a path leads along this low grassy shore, but, during some months of the year, the water reaches the very downs. It is a fine spot for an encampment, the air being good. But the whole site consists only of a narrow sandy ridge, backed towards the north by an extensive swamp, the border of which is girt with the richest profusion of vegetation, interwoven with creeping plants, and interspersed with dúm-bush. This place is called “úggada,” and forms a haunt for numbers of wild beasts, especially lions, and the inhabitants gave an animated description of a nocturnal combat which, two days previously, had raged between two lions on account of a lioness.