206 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LIX. 
Thus proceeding along the south side of the sheet 
of water, here about 200 yards broad and thickly 
overgrown with tall reeds of different species, in- 
cluding a large proportion of papyrus, we reached, 
after a little less than two miles, another walled 
town, likewise called Kambasa, — a civil war having 
broken out among the inhabitants of the former 
town, and a portion of them having separated from 
the original tribe, and settled in this place. We 
then continued along the southern side of the valley, 
till, after a march of about four miles, we had to 
cross a small branch which joins the chief trunk of 
the valley from the south, and opened a view of 
Mount Bobye, over the saddle of which the road 
leads from Tambawel to Jega, the great market- 
place of this quarter of the country, while the fad- 
dama, here spreading out in a large sheet of water, 
receded behind a walled town called Badda-badda. 
A track frequented by the elephant, of which for a 
long time I had seen no traces, led through the rich 
pasture-ground, to the edge of the water. Almost 
the whole cultivation along this fertile but swampy 
valley consisted of rice. It was about 1200 yards 
broad, and even at the present season, before the rains 
had set in, was full of water. A couple of months 
later it inundates its low borders, and almost pre- 
cludes any passage, so that, on my home journey 
from the west, I was obliged to pursue another path, 
The crops of Negro corn were here already three 
inches high, numbers of people being busily em- 
