264 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLVI. 
the beginning he caused me some trouble, and be- 
haved at times rather awkwardly, he proved on the 
whole a very useful servant. 
I was hospitably treated in the evening by a young 
man of the name of Degeji, who had accompanied 
Mr. Overweg on his voyage on the lake. He was 
a barber and a musician, and rather a gay sort of 
person. 
Saturday, ^ e followed the direct route for Ngala. 
March 6th, xhe country, open at the commencement, 
became gradually covered by the diim-bush, and 
further on by middle-sized trees of various kinds. 
Besides the wife of my escort trooper, who was to 
pay a visit to her father in Bagirmi, and who was 
at least a degree better than her husband, a very 
cheerful man of the name of Kago had attached 
himself to our little troop. He had been acquainted 
with the members of the former expedition, and 
was anxious to give me all possible information with 
regard to the qualities of the various trees and 
bushes which adorned the wilderness, especially the 
kari, karawa, and latram ; and on this occasion I 
learnt that a kind of disease, which would seem to be 
the stigma of a closely-packed civilization, is not at all 
rare in these countries: it is here called "dun." 
Everything testifies to the richness of this country, 
which is now left to utter neglect. The population 
of the small villages which dot the landscape is 
mixed, consisting one half of Kamiri, and the other 
of Shiiwa; and I was not a little surprised to find 
