MY JOURNEY CONTINUED TO ASHAKA 215 



It was also the farthest point to which the boats were to 

 be taken before being carried by the main road, to be put 



ALLIGATA PIPERS AT BAUCHI 



together again at Gaidam for their journey down the Yo 

 river. 



The country round Bauchi underwent a change from 

 that through which I had but recently passed, taking on 

 a desert aspect with sparser bush, the characteristic acacia 

 and gum-tree appearing in numbers for the first time. The 

 fauna, too, began to have a sprinkling of Sudan forms and 

 it was here I got my first crested-lark. I did not travel by 

 the main road to Ashaka which goes north-east through 

 Gombe, but struck away east by a Httle -known route through 

 Goram, Kufa, and Ako to the River Gongola. Following the 

 practice which I kept up through all my journeys, I paced 

 and counted every yard of the road, taking observations 



