218 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLIV. 
all the inhabitants had made their escape. Another 
delay occurred owing to one of the followers of Bii- 
Bakr falling into a ditch or hollow twelve feet in depth 
and the same in breadth, from which he was extricated 
with some difficulty, while the horse died on the spot. 
But there was plenty of leisure, the pagans having 
long ago had sufficient time to make their escape be- 
yond the river. If those simple people had followed 
the same stratagem which the Bornu people employ 
against the Tawarek, digging a quantity of holes and 
covering them over with bushes, they might have 
done a great deal of mischief to the cavalry. 
This whole tract of country still belongs to the 
extensive district of Wiiliya; but the villages have 
separate names, which, owing to the unfortunate cir- 
cumstances under which I visited the country, I was 
not able to learn. Having passed a considerable vil- 
lage, we reached, a little before eleven o'clock, the 
furthermost line which the waters of the river Serbe- 
wuel attain during its highest state of inundation, 
while when they recede they leave extensive ponds of 
stagnant water behind, which nourish a rich supply 
of the most succulent herbage. The shore was here 
about eight feet high, while at the other point, where 
we had visited the river a few days previously, it was 
not so well marked. Of course, where the inner 
shore consists of steeper banks, so that the river does 
not rise over the higher level to a considerable height, 
the outward shore cannot be marked so distinctly. 
About thirteen hundred yards beyond this grassy 
