162 
TRAVELS IK AFRICA. Chap. XLIII. 
camp-stool, or anything to sit or lie upon ; for the 
argillaceous soil is so excessively hard, that the bor- 
ders of these holes produced by the unwieldy foot of 
the elephant cause a great deal of pain to a person 
lying on the ground with nothing but a mat or carpet. 
The most essential instrument on this whole jour- 
ney was the " lateram," the digging-instrument (from 
"langin," "I dig"), consisting of a large piece of 
wood about three feet long, with a heavy iron point ; 
for without the lateram it w T ould have been impossible 
to fix the dateram (from " dangin," " I fasten, stop "), 
or the pole to which the horses are fastened during 
the night. In general, every horseman digs the hole 
in which the pole is fastened with his own spear ; but 
this soil was so hard that it was scarcely possible to 
make the smallest hole in it. Of course during the 
rainy season it is just as soft and muddy as it is hard 
in the dry season, and scarcely passable in conse- 
quence. 
A giraffe was caught to-day. I had been of opinion 
that this timorous animal was not found in the thickly 
inhabited regions near the equator ; but I soon learned 
from experience that it is not at all rare in the wilder- 
nesses which alternate with the densely populated re- 
gions of these districts. The elephant, however, is the 
predominant animal of these quarters ; and the large 
market-place, Fatawel, which I have mentioned on 
my journey to A'damawa, and the Logon town Jena, 
or rather Jinna, seem to be of considerable import- 
ance for their ivory-trade. 
