About eleven we passed Salacoila, a village of the wandering Foulahs, situated on the right bank; they build their huts on the quicksands. I went ashore with a negro to purchase a little milk, and saw some of the women, who were pretty well dressed; they would not take our cowries, but wanted millet or rice in exchange. They seemed very gentle in their manners; I visited their little habitations; they are of a circular form, made of a very pretty kind of matting, manufactured in the place; this is laid on poles which are fixed in the ground, and which, being flexible, curve inward at top; seven or eight of these huts were surrounded by quickset hedges of _celane_, a euphorbious plant which grows spontaneously on the sandy shores of the Senegal; these huts were very neat, being cleanly swept in the inside: they had no other furniture than a few mats spread on the ground, by way of bedding: some calabashes, wooden plates and skins for holding milk, were the only domestic utensils I saw. These Foulahs have the same cast of features and the same resemblance one to another as those in the neighbourhood of the Senegal; they, however, speak another language, though they perfectly understand that which is spoken at Timbuctoo. The only dress of the women was an apron tied round their waists. They were all exceedingly clean, and I do not think their hair was greased. They came in crowds to see me, being very curious, and apparently, very devout, for when I was going away they took up some sand in their hands and earnestly requested me to pray over it.[3] I complied with their wishes, gravely muttering some verses of the Koran. They then carefully rolled up the sand in their aprons, with the intention of preserving it as a precious talisman. The nenuphar (_nymphæa cærulea_) grows in abundance in the immense marshes which surround Salacoila. The largest species of this plant bears a beautiful blue flower. The inhabitants gather and dry the seed, and it affords them a valuable article of food. They also procure grain from the canoes which come from Jenné. I observed the river sensibly widening. Its direction still continued northward. About two o’clock we stopped for some canoes that were astern of us. At four we again pushed off, steering to the N. E. The river now widened considerably. About ten we halted for the night. Here we again observed many hippopotami sporting about in the water. The negroes hunt this animal and sell its flesh, which they esteem very highly.