40 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXIX. 
people of Waday had made an alliance with all the 
tribes hostile to the Welad Sliman, in order to destroy 
the latter, had not been allowed to cross the river 
until to-day. They were harmless people, carrying 
very little luggage (chiefly dates) upon a small number 
of oxen ; but as soon as they had crossed, our com- 
panions held a council, and, the opinion of the most 
violent having gained the upper hand, they fell upon 
the poor Tebu, or Kreda, as they call them, and took 
away all their dates by force. The skins were then 
divided ; and the greater part of them had already been 
consumed or carried away, when an old Arab arrived, 
and, upbraiding his companions with their mean con- 
duct, persuaded them to collect what remained, or 
that could be found, and restore it to the owners. In 
the evening the vizier's messenger arrived, and the 
crossing of the river was definitively fixed for the 
next day. 
Monday Rose early, in order to get over in time, 
Sept. 22nd. t,] iere being no other means of crossing 
than two makara, each consisting of three yokes of 
calabashes. The camels, as is always the case, being 
the most difficult to manage, had to cross first ; and 
after much trouble and many narrow escapes (owing 
principally to the unevenness of the bottom of the 
valley, the water-channel having formed a deep hollow 
— at present from ten to eleven feet deep — near the 
southern shore, while in the middle the bottom rises 
considerably, leaving a depth of only six or seven 
feet) they all got safely over, and were left to in- 
dulge in the foliage of the beautiful mimosas which 
