362 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLIX. 
in the freshest verdure. We passed several villages, 
among which one called Mai-Dala, was distinguished 
by its neat appearance, most of the huts having 
been recently thatched, to protect them against the 
rains. In the forest which intervened, dum-bushes 
and diim-palms, here called u kolongo," attracted my 
attention, on account of the wide range this plant oc- 
cupies in Central Africa, while it was erroneously be- 
lieved to belong exclusively to Upper Egypt. Having 
passed the shallow water of Ambusada, where numbers 
of the blue-feathered bird here called " delluk," with 
red feet, were splashing about, we again approached 
the inauspicious village where I had first set my foot 
in this country. 
Here also, during the short time I had been absent, 
a great change had taken place. The ground was 
being cleared, in order to prepare it for the labours 
of the rainy season ; and the bushes and trunks of 
trees were burnt, in order to render the soil more 
productive by means of the fertilizing power of the 
ashes. We had not before passed so closely to the 
river ; and I was astonished at the immense size of 
the ant-hills, which were not of the ordinary kind, 
such as they are seen in general, rising in steep 
conical peaks, but rather like those which I had seen 
near the Benuwe — but of larger proportions and 
rising to an elevation of from 30 to 40 feet, and 
sloping very gradually, so that their circumference 
at the base in some cases measured more than 
200 feet. The village itself had meanwhile changed 
its character, owing to the number of new huts 
