404 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXV. 
especial names, where, in certain years when the 
river rises to an unusual height, as happened in the 
course of the same winter, the water of the inundation 
enters and occasionally forms even a navigable chan- 
nel; and leaving on one side the talha tree of the 
Well Salah, covered with innumerable rags of the 
superstitious natives, who expect to be generously 
rewarded by their saint with a new shirt, we ap- 
proached the town : but its dark masses of clay not 
being illuminated by bright sunshine, for the sky was 
thickly overcast and the atmosphere filled with sand, 
were scarcely to be distinguished from the sand and 
rubbish heaped all round ; and there was no oppor- 
tunity for looking attentively about, as a body of 
people were coming towards us in order to pay their 
compliments to the stranger and bid him welcome. 
This was a very important moment, as, if they had 
felt the slightest suspicion with regard to my cha- 
racter, they might easily have prevented my entering 
the town at all, and thus even endangered my life. 
I therefore took the hint of A'lawate, who recom- 
mended me to make a start in advance in order to 
anticipate the salute of these people who had come 
to meet us ; and putting my horse to a gallop, and 
gun in hand, I galloped up to meet them, when I was 
received with many salams. But a circumstance 
occurred which might have proved fatal, not only 
to my enterprise, but even to my own personal safety, 
as there was a man among the group who addressed 
me in Turkish, which I had almost entirely forgotten ; 
