390 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXIV. 
overlaid with a white crust formed by the droppings 
of these visitors, which with animated cries were col- 
lecting together towards the close of the evening. 
Having here left the shore, which at present formed a 
low and bare headland, but which in the course of a 
month would be entirely under water, we at once 
entered the middle of that magnificent river the X'sa, 
or Mayo Balleo, running here from W. 35° S. to E. 
35° N., which has excited the lively curiosity of Eu- 
ropeans for so many years. It was at this spot about 
a mile across, and by its magnitude and solemn mag- 
nificence in the new moon which w r as rising in front 
of us, and with the summer lightning at times break- 
ing through the evening sky, inspired my servants 
with real awe and almost fright; while we were 
squatting on the shelving roof of our frail boat, and 
looked with searching eyes along the immense expanse 
of the river in a north-easterly direction, where the 
object of our journey was said to lie. 
Whether from the excitement of the day, or from 
the previous night's wetting, when at length we lay 
to at the ancient Songhay town of Koiretago, which 
had once been a place of importance, but had been 
almost destroyed by the Fulbe in conjunction with the 
Tarki chief Somki, I was seized with a severe at- 
tack of fever, but in order to take care of my lug- 
gage I was unwilling to go on shore, where I might 
have lain down on a fine sandy beach, choosing rather 
to remain on board our frail boat. 
