Chap. LIX. 
gau'mache'. 
207 
ployed in the labours of the fields, while an iso- 
lated deleb palm gave a peculiar character to the 
landscape. The prevailing representatives of the ve- 
getable kingdom were the dorowa and the useful 
kadena tree. The pasture-grounds were full of cattle ; 
and everything testified to the rich nature of the 
district, which is still very populous. After passing 
another walled town perched on the high border 
of the swampy valley, three miles and a half beyond 
Badda-badda, we reached Gaumache, at present re- 
duced to a small hamlet, or rather " riimde," inhabited 
exclusively by slaves, and adorned by a few speci- 
mens of the butter tree and the dorowa. It was 
once a large walled town ; but in the sanguinary war 
between the native Kabawa and the conquering tribe 
of the Fiilbe, it was destroyed by the former. 
Having crossed here a considerable stream of run- 
ning water, which testified to the quantity of rain 
which had fallen in this district, we passed, on our 
left, the large walled town of Talba, where the beating 
of drums gave proof of warlike preparation. The 
fields around were adorned with numbers of deleb 
palms. 
At a short distance from Talba lies Daube. The 
whole of this district had attained a high degree 
of power and prosperity under the dominion of the 
Kanta, and had only recently begun, in consequence of 
the war of independence, to lose many of its former 
centres of human industry. 
An obvious illustration of this desolation was 
