424 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXIV. 
Muglebii, where he had acquaintances ; but at length 
the people of A'damawa carried their point, and we 
chose the westernmost road, which passes by Mbutiidi. 
The wilderness now gave way to open pastures, and 
we passed some corn-fields when we came to the farm 
of a wealthy Pullo named Alkaso, who in the midst of 
a numerous family was leading here the life of a patri- 
arch. Hearing that a stranger from a far distant coun- 
try was passing by, the venerable old man came out 
of his village to salute me, accompanied by his sons, 
and two of the latter, who had evidently no idea of the 
heresy of the Christian religion, ran a long distance 
by the side of my horse, and did not turn back till I 
had given them my blessing. Pleasant as was their 
innocent behaviour, showing a spirit full of confidence, 
I was rather glad when they were gone, as I wished 
to take some angles of the mountains which appeared 
scattered through the wild and gloomy plain on our 
right. 
After a while the low chain of hills on our left was 
succeeded by a range of higher mountains attached 
to the broad cone of the Faka. A little before we 
had obtained a view of the rocky mount of Mbutiidi, 
and we now observed the first gigina ("dugbi" in 
Fulfulde), or deleb-palm, the kind of Hyphcena which 
I have already occasionally mentioned as occurring in 
other localities, but which distinguishes this place in 
a most characteristic way. The ground was covered 
w T ith rich herbage, from which numerous violets 
peeped forth. 
