234 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLV. 
remained on our left. The whole country was ex- 
tremely well cultivated, and densely inhabited, village 
succeeding village, while large trees, mostly of the 
ngabbore and karage kind, enveloped the whole in 
the finest vegetation. Some of the huts were distin- 
guished by a natural ornamental net-work or cover- 
ing, formed by that kind of Cucurbitacea which I 
have mentioned before as named " sagade " by the 
natives, and which is probably identical with the 
species called Melopepo. The aspect of the country 
was the more pleasing, and left the impression of a 
certain degree of industry, owing to the tobacco-plants 
just standing in flower. 
Amidst such scenery, we took up our encamp- 
ment at an early hour in the morning, a beautifully- 
winding watercourse, which was bordered by a 
fine grassy slope about twenty feet high, closely ap- 
proaching on our right. The watercourse was about 
sixty yards broad, but of considerable depth, at least 
in this place, and full of clear fresh water, which 
was gently gliding along, and disappeared further 
down in the plain. Here I lay down for an hour in 
the cool shade of a large karage-tree, and allowed 
myself to be carried away by the recollections caused 
by the ever- varying impressions of such a wandering 
life, which repays the traveller fully for all the hard- 
ships and privations which he has to endure, and 
endows him with renewed energy to encounter fresh 
dangers. 
I have before observed what trouble the hard allu- 
