304 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXII. 
I had such a clever companion as the Walati with 
me ; for, while I was pointing my gun, he begged me 
to ride quietly in advance straight upon those people, 
and at the same time cried out to them that I was 
a sherlf, and a friend of the sheikh El Bakay, to 
whom I was carrying a number of books from the 
east. All of a sudden they dropped their spears and 
thronged round me, requesting me to give them 
my blessing ; and the circumstances under which I 
was placed obliged me to comply with this slight 
request, although it was by no means a pleasant matter 
to lay my hands on all these dirty heads. 
On the whole it was very fortunate that we met 
with these people ; for without their aid and informa- 
tion we should scarcely have been able to cross the 
water which intersected our track, at least without 
a most serious loss to our luggage. People in Europe 
have no idea what it is to travel during the rainy 
season in these regions ; else they would not wonder 
that poor Dr. Vogel, in going at that time of the 
year from Yakoba to Zariya, lost most of his instru- 
ments, and all his collections, in crossing the rivers. 
They were poor people from Gao, or G6g6, and the 
neighbourhood, a mixture, as I thought at the time, of 
Songhay and Tawarek, but speaking only the lan- 
guage of the former ; but I found afterwards that 
they belonged to the tribe of the Gabero, of whom 
I shall speak in the following volume. They had 
visited the market of Aribinda, and were at present 
on their way to D6re and Libtdko, carrying as mer- 
