Chap. XLVI. NGA'lA ; BUILDINGS, LANGUAGE. 271 
infest the place. We remained here the following 
day, when I went to pay a visit to the governor at 
his residence ; but I felt rather sorry for it, as the 
good impression which the imposing exterior of the 
palace had made upon me, was destroyed by the 
ruinous and desolate state of the interior. The 
whole province is now in a very neglected condition, 
such as would indicate that the ruler of the country 
himself acknowledged his incapability of defending 
his subjects against another inroad of the Waday. 
The governor was not a very intelligent man ; but 
it was he who first called my attention to the fact 
that the town of Ngala has its own peculiar idiom, 
quite distinct from the Kaniiri, and I afterwards found 
that it is even different from the dialects of the other 
principal places in the province of K6tok6, though it 
is very closely related to the idioms spoken by the 
islanders of the Tsad (the so-called Biidduma, but 
whose real name is Yedina) on the one side, and to 
that of the Miisgu on the other. At some distance 
from Ngala is the town of NdifFu, or Ndifu, which is 
said to have been one of the latest strongholds of the 
tribe of the Soy, or S6, whom I have repeatedly men- 
tioned in my historical sketch of the empire of Bornu ; 
and sundry remarkable ornaments are said to be 
dug up frequently in that place. 
I had seen scarcely any traces of cultiva- Tuesday 
tion on the western side of the town ; and March 9th - 
when we set out again I found as little on the other 
sides. Nevertheless the environs of Ngala, especially 
