A DEFEAT OF THE DAKAGLA. 301 



distant mountain groups of the southern Fajelu district, made 

 their appearance. Our route led over a plateau of ferruginous 

 clay, concealed beneath a layer of sand formed by disintegra- 

 tion ; it was studded with sparse bushes, and intersected by many 

 small water- runnels, which in the leharif help to swell Khor 

 Nyamini. At this time the Ichor contained a good deal of 

 water. Here our route left the Makraka road for good, and 

 after passing between several picturesque groups of rocks and 

 through some swampy depressions, it led us on to a wide 

 savannah. A tall tree marks the place where eighty Danagla 

 lost their lives, and their comrades had to beat a disgraceful 

 retreat while attacking Chief Langajo's Nyambara zeribas, which 

 formerly were situated here. Since that time, Khor Nyamini 

 has been called in Arabic " Khor Temanin " (the " brook of the 

 eighty "). My guide, Tombe, Langajo's son, and now chief of 

 this district, was present during the attack, and he now carried 

 a gun which had been captured on the occasion. Khor Berr 

 flows through high grass, which shuts out all view. The Bari 

 call it Kongolo-Kob, but by the Arabs it is called Khor-et- 

 Tin, because its water is of a dirty white, owing to the loamy 

 soil of its banks. It comes from northern Fajelu, and flows into 

 Khor Nyamini. 



After midnight there was a violent thunderstorm, which 

 produced the inevitable confusion that always follows such 

 events ; in the early morning all were asleep, so that we did 

 not start till late. The country before us sloped, and was on 

 that account mostly swampy, but marching is fairly easy even 

 through a swamp when a good firm strata of clay lies under- 

 neath. The whole land is covered with exceptionally high 

 grass, interrupted occasionally by steppe vegetation and thorn 

 thickets. Kigelias and splendid Dalbergias are very abundant 

 here ; where the soil becomes drier and sandier, dense copses 

 of acacias are found, of two different species, one with white 

 thorns and pink and yellow catkins, the other with long stiff 

 white thorns, two or three of which are often situated on a 

 large black protuberance ; the white blossoms of this kind 

 are wonderfully fragrant. Reddish-brown, lofty ant-hills, with 

 crenelated spikes and points, are scattered here and there. 

 Large numbers of pigeons, whose liking for moist ground I have 



