242 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LIX- 
at length the boats, or rather canoes, which were 
to carry me and my effects across, made their ap- 
pearance. They were of good size, about forty feet 
in length, and from four to five feet in width in the 
middle, consisting of two trunks of trees hollowed 
out, and sewn together in the centre. These boats 
are chiefly employed for conveying the corn from the 
town of Sinder, which lies higher up the river, to the 
town of Say; and they had been* expressly sent for 
by the " king of the waters," or the inspector of the 
harbour, the " serki-n-jirgi," or " lamido-lala," as he 
is called by the Fulbe, or " hiyokoy," according to his 
title in the Songhay language. The largest of them 
was able to carry three of my camels ; and the water 
was kept out much better than I had ever yet found 
to be the case with the native craft of the inhabitants 
of Negroland, 
My camels, horses, people, and luggage having 
crossed over without an accident, I myself followed, 
about one o'clock in the afternoon, filled with delight 
when floating on the waters of this celebrated stream 
the exploration of which had cost the sacrifice of so 
many noble lives. A little nearer the western bank, 
a short distance below the spot where the river is ge- 
nerally crossed, an isolated rock starts forth from the 
river, rising at this season from twelve to fifteen feet 
above the surface ; and beyond there is a smaller one, 
which, as the river rises a little higher, becomes 
covered by the water. The sight of the river was 
the more momentous to me, as I was soon again to 
