474 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LII. 
I was sorry to find that my first impression was con- 
firmed by what I observed afterwards. As he him- 
self was anxious for a little change of air, and as it 
was entirely in accordance with our object of ex- 
ploring the lake, to observe the state of the koma- 
dugu at this season, while it was not possible at 
present to enter upon any great undertaking, we 
agreed that he should make a small trip to the lower 
part of the river ; and he left accordingly for A'jiri on 
the 29th of August, in company with a small grandee 
or k6kana, to whom the place belonged, a short dis- 
tance westward from the district of Diichi. I accom- 
panied him about as far as the village of Dawerghii ; 
and we separated with a firm hope that the excursion 
would do him a great deal of good — and he really en- 
joyed extremely the rich vegetation of the komadugu, 
which at this time of the year, during the rising of 
the river, was in its full vigour. He learnt, by in- 
quiry from the natives, the very interesting fact that 
the water in the kom&dugu, which during the dry 
season is limited to detached pools of stagnant water, 
begins to form a continuous stream of water eastward 
towards the Tsad on the 21st or 22nd July, and con- 
tinues running for about seven months ; that is to 
say, till about the middle of February. It begins to 
overflow its banks in the month of November. But, 
although my companion took great interest in the 
objects around him, he could not have felt very strong, 
as the notes which he wrote during this excursion are 
extremely short and unsatisfactory, while it would 
have been of importance if he had been able to lay 
