284 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXI. 
immediately, but we agreed that I should arrange 
with him in Dore, when he would be able to settle his 
own business. 
The village of Namantiigu is almost exclusively 
inhabited by Fiilbe, all of whom were clad in the 
purest white, even the little children wearing round 
their heads a large turban of white cotton strips ; but 
this was, perhaps, in consequence of their festival 
having been held the previous day. A great deal of 
rain had fallen hereabouts ; and cotton appeared to 
be cultivated to a considerable extent. 
Sunday, Our road, on leaving Namantiigu, led 
juiyioth. through a deep clayey soil covered with 
rank vegetation, which was only now and then inter- 
rupted by a little cultivation. A wealthy family of 
Fiilbe, father, mother, son, and daughter, all mounted 
on horseback, and accompanied by servants and by 
a numerous herd of cattle, were pursuing the same 
path ; and their company was rather agreeable to us, 
as, after a march of about five miles, we had to cross 
a large sheet of water in the midst of the forest, 
through which they showed us the way. It is de- 
lightful for a traveller to meet with these nomadic 
settlers, after the disgust he has felt at the degraded 
character of their countrymen in Wurno. We had here 
entered a region full of water, the soil presenting very 
little inclination to afford it the means of flowing off. 
Further on also, where we passed the site of a former 
dwelling-place, we had to cross several channels of 
running water, and encamped at length, after a march 
