As we were very near the shore, I could observe a woman who had the clear copper complexion of the Moorish females, whom she still further resembled in dress: she was enormously fat, and was sitting on a sheep-skin spread on the ground; she was doubtless amusing herself by looking at the vessels as they passed. During my travels among the Braknas I never saw a woman who had attained such a degree of corpulency, though that quality constitutes the principal charm of female beauty among these people. This Tooarik Venus must have required four slaves at least to assist her in walking. The river now turned a little to the east. After having passed the camp, we came to a large island, off which we halted till eight o’clock, having to wait for some boats, which could not proceed as fast as ours. This island is very flat and sandy, but I observed some specimens of the mimosa, _balanitis ægyptiaca_, and other stunted shrubs. About nine o’clock we again put off, and at ten arrived at a place where the river separates into two branches: the principal of these might be three-quarters of a mile broad, running gently E. S. E.; the direction of the other is E. by N.; it is deep, and its breadth is from thirty-five to forty paces. About one o’clock P. M. we arrived at the port of Cabra, and I was informed that I might quit my prison, the Soorgoos having remained behind; I speedily went on deck, whence I could see nothing around me but flooded morasses covered with aquatic birds. This arm of the river is very narrow, and the current stronger than in the large arm. I think it not unlikely that at a little distance it joins the Dhioliba, for in this place the branch inclines to the east. If this is the case, the river forms a large marshy island, which must be flooded during the inundations. Across these immense marshes is discovered the village or little town of Cabra, situated on a small hill, which protects it from inundation. I was told that in the rainy season these marshes are covered with water to the depth of ten feet, which appeared to me a surprising depth for so vast a space, and that at those periods large vessels cast anchor before Cabra. A little canal leads to this village; but small boats only can enter the port. If the canal were cleared of the grass and nenuphars which choke the passage, vessels of twenty-five tons burthen might go up it in all seasons; but such a task would be too toilsome for the negroes.