306 LADO TO KEDIBA. 



fastened to the waist-belt, and is not even laid aside when 

 dancing. 



The swamp of Lere, at the base of the hill, is a flat covered 

 with thick grasses, nearly three miles broad ; a rat running 

 through it represents the path. On account of the long season 

 of drought, the water even in the worst places did not exceed 

 eighteen inches in depth. The passage, however, through the 

 decaying slippery grasses was very unpleasant. When the 

 swamp is full it empties a very considerable quantity of water 

 into Khor Koda. From this point the road passed through 

 broad stretches of grass, broken here and there by patches of 

 thick brushwood ; it was also crossed by a number of small 

 brooks and swamps. Besides Anona, the most characteristic 

 trees and bushes were Sarcocephalus, Oncoba, and many acacias, 

 small groups of Terminalia, and larger ones of Vatica, especi- 

 ally where the moisture was considerable. We had to wander 

 through a rather monotonous stretch of country before reaching 

 the boundary of the Nyambara district, which is formed by the 

 swamp of Lukomiikui. Reddish sand-patches, brushwood, and 

 broad swamps followed one another, and we had also to cross 

 small brooks, having large granite blocks strewn upon their 

 banks. The Nyambara country borders upon Kedeni, which is 

 inhabited by a tribe of the same name, whose chief, Jorube 

 (called Wod Loron by the Danagla), lives in the village of Kediba, 

 which we reached at midday. Dokhn-fields and a solitary 

 small doleb palm were passed upon the road. As the village 

 only consists of the chiefs huts, it is small, but a numerous 

 Negro population has settled around it in small open hamlets. 

 The huts are very small, low, and round, are constructed of 

 wood, and have very shapely roofs, formed of grass layers, so 

 neatly placed one above another as to look as if trimmed by 

 shears. Near to the huts are graves marked by large pyramids 

 of stones. 



