Chap. XXXI. EXCURSION TO THE TSA'D. 
323 
men to conduct me along the shore as far as Kawa, 
whence I should return to the capital. 
The sheikh, with his court, having left Saturda}7) 
Ngornu before the dawn of day, on his A P ril26th - 
return to Kukawa, I sent back my camel, with my 
two men also, by the direct road ; and then having 
waited awhile in vain for the promised escort, I went 
myself with Bu-Skd, to look after it, but succeeded 
only in obtaining two horsemen, one of whom was the 
Kashella Kotoko, an amiable, quiet Kanemma chief, 
who ever afterwards remained my friend, and the 
other a horseguard of the sheikh's, of the name of 
Sale. With these companions we set out on our excur- 
sion, going north-east; for due east from the town, 
as I now learned, the lagoon was at present at more 
than ten miles' distance. The fine grassy plain seemed 
to extend to a boundless distance, uninterrupted by 
a single tree, or even a shrub; not a living creature 
was to be seen, and the sun began already to throw a 
fiery veil over all around, making the vicinity of the 
cooling element desirable. After a little more than 
half an hour's ride we reached swampy ground, and 
began to make our way through the water, often up 
to our knees on horseback. We thus came to the 
margin of a fine open sheet of water, encompassed 
with papyrus and tall reed, of from ten to fourteen 
feet in height, of two different kinds, one called 
"mele," and the other "bore," or "bole." The mele 
has a white tender core, which is eaten by the na- 
tives, but to me seemed insipid ; the b6re has a head 
T 2 
