Chap. LXI. DROUGHT. — ANARCHY. 
293 
in the hair of the young damsels form an ornament 
without meaning, or are intended as auspicious omens 
as to their future husbands, I cannot say ; and I 
must apologise to the reader for not being able, in 
this part of my journey, which was more beset by 
dangers, to enter fully into the private life of the 
people. 
Altogether, Dore, or as it is generally called, by 
the name of the whole province, Libtako, appeared to 
me an extremely dry and uncomfortable place. How- 
ever, this seemed to be rather exceptional, owing to 
the extraordinary drought prevailing that year ; and 
it was not until the evening of the 17th of this month 
(July), that we had a moderate fall of rain, when 
nature as well as man appeared a little refreshed. 
The name which the Tawarek, as well as the Arabs 
of A'zawad, give to this place, namely Wendu, or 
Winde, seems to imply quite another character, as 
the word means pond or lake ; but, in reality, a very 
extensive sheet of water is annually formed close to 
the western side of the town, although during my stay 
the extensive depression was dry; and I even have 
ground to suppose that this sheet of water is very 
often, through a very considerable backwater, directly 
connected with the Niger. 
The political state of the country, however, was 
at the present moment worse than its material con- 
dition. The disorder and anarchy were such as to 
make it appear as if there were no government at all. 
There were so many different factions that one pa- 
u 3 
