234 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XXVII. 
it, under a cluster of beautiful and shady tamarind- 
trees, not knowing that, as the cemetery of some 
venerated persons, it was a sanctified place ; however, 
on being informed of this circumstance, we were care- 
ful not to pollute it. I now learned that I had not 
followed the shortest track to Kukawa, which passes 
by Kamsandi, but that Yusuf (Mr. Kichardson's 
interpreter), with the Christian's property, had also 
taken this road. I might therefore have pursued my 
journey directly to that residence, and should have had 
the company of a corn-caravan, which was about to 
set forward in the afternoon ; but as it was absolutely 
necessary that I should send word to the sheikh that 
I was coming, and as there was no other governor or 
officer on the track before me from whom I might 
obtain a decent and trustworthy messenger, I pre- 
ferred going a little more out of my way in order to 
visit the Kashella K her- Alia, an officer stationed by 
the sheikh in the most exposed place of this district, 
in order to protect it against the inroads of the 
Tawarek. 
Having, therefore, taken a hearty leave of the vil- 
lagers, who had all collected round me, listening with 
astonishment and delight to the performance of my 
musical box, I started again at an early hour in the 
afternoon, accompanied, for a little while, by the bil- 
lama, and continuing in a north-easterly direction. 
The country in general presented nothing but pas- 
ture-grounds, with only some cultivation of grain and 
patches of cotton-fields near the hamlet Yeralla, which, 
