Chap. XL VIII, THE REAL SHA'iu'. 
313 
the village of Atmarchari, which we left on our right, 
there were traces of cultivation, trees being cut down 
and the ground cleared to make room for corn-fields ; 
the village is inhabited by Kaniiri people. Soon 
after, the forest became denser than before, climbing 
plants running up the trees, and hanging down in 
festoons from the branches. Here it was that I first 
saw the footprints of the rhinoceros, an animal which 
is unheard of in all the western parts of Negroland. 
The people of this part of Logon call the animal 
" birni," the name usual in Bagirmi, while the real 
name in the language of the country is " ngirme." 
The Kaniiri call it " kargadan," or " barkajan " — the 
very name mentioned already by El Edrisi.* It is 
greatly feared by the inhabitants, who sometimes 
encounter these ferocious animals on the narrow 
footpaths which wind through the thick forests of 
their country. 
I had gone on a little in advance, when suddenly 
I beheld, through the branches of the trees, the 
splendid sheet of a large river, far larger than that 
of Logon. All was silence ! and the pellucid surface 
of the water undisturbed by the slightest breeze; 
no vestiges of human or animal life were to be 
seen, with the exception of two riverhorses (called 
" niye" by the people of Logon), which, having been 
basking in the sun on the shore, plunged into the 
water at our approach. This, then, was the real 
Shari, that is to say the great river of the K6toko 
* Sherif el Edrisi, trad. Jaubert, vol. i. p. 72. ^\s^J 
