The women of the Dirimans, like all who live on the banks of the river from Jenné to Timbuctoo, have their hair ornamented with small glass beads; they also wear glass, and sometimes metal rings in their noses. My fellow travellers told me that these people are robbers, and that they often practise great cruelties; this I was ready enough to believe, for, during the two days I staid among them, I observed much quarrelling and fighting. Their dress is the same as that of the people of Jenné; like them, they have woolly black hair. They have handsome countenances, aquiline noses, thin lips, and large eyes; they are armed with two or three pikes and a dagger, which they promptly make use of on the least provocation. After being engaged in a quarrel, they fall devoutly to their prayers, for they are Musulmans, and they often rise from their religious duties merely to begin fresh contentions. They use the bow and arrow against their enemies; but some were armed with muskets, and some with sabres; these weapons had been introduced by Europeans. I saw a man walking on the bank of the river with a calabash full of saltpetre, which he offered for sale: I was desirous of knowing in what way it had been procured; the Moors informed me that saltpetre was manufactured in the country, and that it was used for making gunpowder. The village of Alcodia, the residence of the chief of the Dirimans, is situated to the east of Tircy, from which it is a day and a half’s journey distant. The crew, having saved all the merchandise they could, prepared to start the next day. On the 11th of April, at six in the morning, we left the village of Tircy; the course of the river is northward. At seven o’clock we passed Talbocoila; about nine we halted to take in our stock of fire-wood. The wind blew gently from N. E. Two hours after we had re-embarked, we observed that the river, which had hitherto always continued of an equal width, became very narrow and deep; its banks were still low and bare. In many places we saw on the right bank quicksands, of a bright yellow colour; I perceived numerous herds of cattle grazing in the surrounding marshes. From five o’clock in the evening till seven, when we halted, the river continued its course to the north. We saw a good many hippopotami, who kept at some distance; I could see nothing of them but their heads: the negroes assured me that they often saw them, and that if they passed near the canoes they would shatter them, as it were, with a touch. The river at this part is a little wider, we crossed it to the other side during the night.