Chap. XXVII. THE JUNGLES OF THE KOMA'dtjGU. 223 
inborn laziness has despairingly retired, and allowed 
them to be converted into an almost impenetrable jun- 
gle. The thicket became for a while very dense, a real 
jungle, such as I had not yet seen in Negroland, when 
a clearer spot followed, overgrown with tall coarse 
grass ten feet high, fed by the water which after 
the rainy season covers the whole of this low ground, 
and offering a rich pasture to the elephant. Then 
we had to traverse a branch of the real komadugu, at 
present very shallow, but at times to be crossed only 
with the aid of a " makara." In the thick covert 
which bordered upon this channel the dum-palm was 
entirely predominant. 
Though the thicket was here so dense, the path 
was well trodden, but as soon as we reached a place 
which had been cleared for cultivation w r e lost all 
traces of it, and then turned off to our right, where we 
saw a small village and a farm situated in the most 
retired spot imaginable. Here we found a cheerful 
old man, the master of the farm, who, on hearing that 
we too were going eastwards, begged us, very ur- 
gently, to spend the remainder of the day in his com- 
pany, adding that he would treat us well and start 
early the next morning with us for Ngunituwa ; but 
however delightful it might appear to me to dream 
away half a day in this wilderness, my anxiety to 
reach Kiikawa compelled me to reject his proposal. 
However, the thicket became so dense, that we had 
the utmost difficulty in getting my bulky luggage 
through it. 
