Chap. LXII. CASTELLATED MOUNDS. 
335 
After passing this mound, and following a more 
north-westerly direction, we approached another 
mound, rising from the plain like an isolated cone, 
and with its steep, narrow, and rugged crest, looking 
exactly like the ruin of a castle of the middle ages. 
Leaving this mound, together with the path leading 
to the Songhay town of Laro on our right, we ap- 
proached the southern foot of another castellated 
mound, which stretched out to a greater length, but 
offered in its rugged and precipitous cliffs, exactly 
the spectacle of crenellated walls and towers. Where 
the foot of the mound juts out into the path on the 
top of the offshoots, the inhabitants of the mountain 
