Chai*. LVII. THE VALLEY OF SO'kOTO. 
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yards wide, and a foot and a half in depth, and then, 
keeping away from the village, reached the other 
branch, which was narrower but more richly bor- 
dered by bushes, and, following it up in an easterly 
direction, reached the point of junction, or "megan- 
gdmu." 
The whole valley here formed one uninterrupted 
rice-field; and how different was the aspect of the 
country from what it exhibited on my home journey, 
at the end of the rainy season of the following 
year ! A number of small boats were lying here, 
at the side of the narrow channel, but all of them 
separated into two halves, which had to be sewn 
together when their services were required for the 
rainy season. From this point I crossed over to the 
road leading to the village of Kore, where, two days 
later, a party of Kebgeres made a foray ; and return- 
ing along this road towards the town, at a distance of 
about five hundred yards from the wall, we crossed 
another small arm of the river, which during the 
rainy season forms an extensive swamp. Leaving 
then the kofa-n-Kore on our right, we turned round 
the north-eastern corner of the wall, and ascended 
towards the kofa-n-Marke, which has received this 
name from a tree of the marke kind, although at 
present none are to be seen here. On the next page 
is a sketch of a ground-plan of the town. 
Altogether my visit to Sokoto formed a most in- 
teresting intermezzo to my involuntary stay in the 
capital, although it could not fail to give me a fur- 
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