86 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXIV. 
kana, and the immense monkey bread-tree, with its 
colossal (now leafless) branches, from which the long 
heavy " kauchi " were hanging down on slender 
mouse-tail stalks, were the prevalent trees. 
By degrees the country became more beautiful 
and cheerful, exhibiting a character of repose and 
ease which is entirely wanting in the northern parts 
of the province ; separate comfortable dwellings of 
cattle-breeding Fellani were spread about, and the 
corn-fields were carefully fenced and well kept. I 
was greatly astonished when Gajere, with a certain 
feeling of national pride, pointed out to me here 
the extensive property of Sidi Ghalli el Haj A'nnur, 
the man whom I had occasion, in my description of 
A'gades, to mention amongst the most respectable 
people of that town. It is astonishing how much 
property is held in these fertile regions by the Ta- 
warek of A'sben ; and to what consequences this may 
eventually lead, everybody will easily conjecture. 
A little before four o'clock in the afternoon we en- 
camped close to a village called Shibdawa, the cele- 
brated town of Daura being distant two days' march. 
Friday ^ was a mos * beautiful morning ; and 
January 3ist. J indulged in the feeling of unbounded 
liberty, and in the tranquil enjoyment of the beau- 
tiful aspect of God's creation. The country through 
which we passed on leaving Shibdawa, formed one 
of the finest landscapes I ever saw in my life. The 
ground was pleasantly undulating, covered with a 
profusion of herbage not yet entirely dried up by 
