Chap. XL VIII. ANIMATED SCENERY. 
311 
were seen here and there. Not having exposed my- 
self to the mid-day sun during the last few days, and 
the heat being very great, I looked for a place to pass 
the hottest hours of the day ; and to the disappoint- 
ment of my companions, who were anxious for a good 
dinner, I dismounted under the cool shade of a beau- 
tiful wide-spreading fig-tree, " ngabbere," or " zerra," 
as the people of Log6n call it, at some distance from 
a little village called Soso, situated towards the north, 
while on our right there was a watercourse winding 
along through a shallow depression in the green mea- 
dow grounds, without any visible inclination. These 
shallow watercourses are, as I have already had oc- 
casion to mention on my journey to Miisgu, one of the 
most characteristic features in this part of Central 
Africa, which formerly was thought to be a dry ele- 
vated waste. Naked young lads were splashing and 
playing about in the water, together with wild hogs, 
in the greatest harmony ; never in any part of Negro- 
land have I seen this animal in such numbers as here 
about the Shari. Calves and goats were pasturing 
in the fields, with wild hogs in the midst of them. 
When we pursued our march at two o'clock in the 
afternoon, I was greatly pleased to see numbers of 
fine horses round the groups of Shuwa villages which 
bordered the watercourse ; while the whole scenery 
was enlivened by the rich foliage of wide-spreading 
trees. Onions likewise were cultivated here in con- 
siderable quantities. On the right of our path were 
very extensive fields, of a peculiar kind of winter- 
x 4 
