156 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLIII. 
face, while I, thinking this rather too much, was 
satisfied with holding my face over it. 
Wednesday, We mao ^ e a short march in advance, and 
Dec ioth. transferred our encampment to Diggera, 
through a country where wilderness and cultivated 
ground alternated. Here we remained the five fol- 
lowing days ; and I had sufficient leisure to regret 
that I was not better provided with books. Anxious 
to employ my time usefully, I began, with the as- 
sistance of two Mandara, or rather Wandala slaves, 
to write down a vocabulary of the language of that 
country, which by the natives themselves is called 
" A'ra-Wandala," as they call their country " Khakh- 
Wandala," or " Khakh-U'ndala." 
The cold which we experienced during our stay here 
we considered very severe — at least from an African 
point of view and feeling ; for in Europe it would have 
been thought very moderate. Fortunately our en- 
campment was more comfortable than it had been at 
Delhe, and presented features of considerable interest ; 
for here we saw the first complete example of those 
shallow stagnant watercourses which are so highly cha- 
racteristic of the equatorial regions of this continent, 
and explain at the same time the conflicting statements 
with regard to the direction of so many watercourses 
in these regions. However, there are two different 
kinds of these shallow waters : first, such as are in im- 
mediate connection with larger rivers, and often run 
parallel to them, and which most appropriately deserve 
