Chap. XL VIII. ENTERING A COUNTRY BY STEALTH. 321 
more careful in discharging his duty, and sent a mes- 
senger the evening before, or early the same morning, 
I should never have entered Bagirmi. 
As it was, having allowed the man to proceed on his 
mischievous errand, we consulted together a moment, 
and thought it best to leave the path, and strike across 
into the stubble-fields; for there is much cultivated 
ground belonging to Mele, which, although lying close 
to the river, is more of a farming than a fishing village. 
New ground was being cleared. Trees were being 
cut down, nothing but the trunks being left, in order 
to protect the dresses of the labourers from the ants. 
The whole country was well cultivated, and, being 
shaded by numerous trees, presented a very interest- 
ing appearance. After about half an hour's march 
across the stubble-fields, without any direct track, we 
reached a well-trodden path coming from Klesem, a 
considerable village lying lower down the river, and 
still belonging to Kotoko, with a peculiar idiom of 
its own. Following then this track, we reached a 
shallow watercourse of the same nature as those men- 
tioned on former occasions. The Bagirmi people call 
them "kamane" or " guguli." It was enlivened by 
a settlement of Shiiwa cattle-breeders of the tribe 
of the f Agaife, and stretched out in great length from 
S.S.W. to N.N.E., forming a very peculiar feature 
in this part of the country ; it is called " Ambusada " 
or Mbusada. Where we crossed it the water was 
only a foot deep, the whole of the bottom of the 
shallow bed being covered with the richest verdure. 
VOL. III. Y 
