Chap. XXXIII. THE MOUNTAINS. 
375 
once more a sight of Mount Dalantuba, marking 
out as it were, the beginning of a mountainous re- 
gion, we returned again to the subject; and all that 
my companions said led me to believe that I might 
really expect to see snow on the highest mountains 
of A'damawa. But after all I was mistaken ; for 
they were speaking of clouds. Unfortunately Billama 
had taken another path, so that to-day I had no one 
to tell me the names of the villages which we passed. 
Some geographers think this a matter of no con- 
sequence — for them it is enough if the position of 
the chief places be laid down by exact astronomical 
observation ; but to me the general character of a 
country, the way in which the population is settled, 
and the nature and character of those settlements 
themselves, seem to form some of the chief and most 
useful objects of a journey through a new and un- 
known country. 
Having marched for more than two hours through 
an uninterrupted scene of agriculture and dense 
population, we entered a wild tract covered princi- 
pally with the beautiful large bush of the tsada, the 
fruit of which, much like a red cherry, has a plea- 
sant acid taste, and was eaten with great avidity, 
not only by my companions, but even by myself. 
But the scene of man's activity soon again succeeded to 
this narrow border of wilderness ; and a little before 
we came to the village Tiirbe, which was surrounded 
by open cultivated country, we passed a luxuriant 
tamarind-tree, in the shade of which a blacksmith 
B B 4 
