348 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXIII. 
set out ; but the recently bought animals were so in- 
tractable that we only moved on at a very slow pace. 
We had first to retrace our steps a little to the east- 
ward, in order to cross the hilly chain which separated 
us from the sandy downs along the Niger ; and had 
then to descend a very steep sandy slope, which 
brought us into an irregular valley, with the moun- 
tains of Dalla forming a conspicuous object towards 
the west. Having then turned round a mountain 
spur which stretched out into the plain on our right, 
we reached the encampment of Bele, a powerful chief 
of the degraded tribe of the Haw-n-adak. His ex- 
terior had nothing of that noble appearance which so 
eminently distinguishes the higher class of these wild 
tribes, as he was of unwieldy corpulency, and of a rather 
short figure, resembling the famous South- African 
chief, Nangoro, visited by Messrs. Galton and Ander- 
son. He received us, however, very hospitably, and 
proved to be rather an intelligent man ; but, fortu- 
nately, he had not sufficient cleverness to discover that 
I was a Christian, although, from the very first moment 
when he beheld my luggage, he arrived at the firm 
conclusion that I was not what my companions re- 
presented me to be, — namely, a sherif from the far 
east ; but he had made up his mind, on account of the 
little knowledge which I possessed of his language, 
and which I had not quite kept back before him, 
that I was a merchant, either from Ghadames or Mo- 
rocco, and it was quite amusing to me to hear him 
argue this point, while he affirmed with the greatest 
