216 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XLIV. 
country of the Tiiburi, and that the baggage was to re- 
main here. Although I should rather have preferred 
visiting the latter tract, situated at the north-eastern 
branch of the basin of the Niger, I nevertheless was 
determined not to let any opportunity pass by of ex- 
tending my geographical knowledge as much as pos- 
sible, and therefore ordered my horse to be saddled. 
Mr. Overweg meanwhile, when he heard that the vizier 
was not to lead the expedition in person, but that the 
young Bu-Bakr, son of the sheikh, was to take the 
command, remained behind ; and as I had no mounted 
servant, and could not expect that a man on foot 
would accompany me to a great distance, I was 
obliged to go quite alone. 
Meanwhile the bugles of Bu-Bakr called the war- 
riors together with a soft, subdued sound, in order 
not to allow treachery to spread the news of their 
plan beforehand. Having passed with some difficulty 
the narrow gate of the stockade, the expeditionary 
army formed outside, when we pushed on in a north- 
easterly direction. But nature has provided so well 
for the defence of these poor pagans, that they are 
not easily taken by surprise. 
We succeeded, with the dawn of day, in passing the 
first broad sheet of water of the wide " n gal jam " of 
Wiiliya, but found great difficulty in passing another 
water with a deep, argillaceous soil of so boggy a 
nature that several of the horses fell, even those 
whose riders had dismounted ; and I felt not a 
little anxiety on account of my own restless and 
