336 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XL VIII. 
trees became more and more scanty. Gradually the 
forest became clearer, and flocks of turtle-doves 
seemed to indicate that there was water in the 
neighbourhood, although such a conclusion drawn 
from the presence of this bird is sometimes liable to 
error. 
After the rainy season the character presented by 
this forest must be very different, and a little further 
on, evident signs of former cultivation began to be 
visible, even of sesamum ("marrashi," as the Kamiri, 
" karru," as the Bagfrmi people call it), as was evi- 
dent from the deep furrows which intersected the 
ground. The inhabitants of two or three small ham- 
lets dragged on a miserable existence even during the 
drought which at present prevailed ; and we met a 
large body of women and children, who preferred 
fetching every night and morning their supply of this 
most essential element from a distance of several 
miles rather than desert their native village. 
Having passed another hamlet, likewise destitute 
of water, and left several villages at a greater distance 
surrounded by a tract of cultivated ground, we at 
length reached the longed-for El Dorado where water 
was to be found ; and, as may be presumed, there 
was a great bustle round the well, which had to 
supply the whole thirsty neighbourhood. Numbers 
of people, camels, and asses were thronging around, 
longing for the moment when they might come in for 
their share ; and as the well was ten fathoms deep, a 
considerable time would necessarily elapse before they 
