432 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXIV. 
hours in the study of the Fulfulde, as I became fully 
aware that the knowledge of this language was essen- 
tial to my plans, if I wished to draw all possible 
advantage from my proceedings. For these simple 
people, who do not travel, but reside all their life 
long in their secluded homes, with the exception 
of a few predatory expeditions against the pagans, 
know no other language than their own ; several of 
them, however, understand the written Arabic tole- 
rably well, but are unable to speak it. Meanwhile, a 
large basket full of groundnuts, in the double shell, 
just as they came from the ground, was placed before 
us ; and after a while, three immense calabashes of a 
thick soup, or porridge, made of the same material, 
were brought in for the refreshment of our whole 
troop. 
Groundnuts form here a very large proportion of 
the food of the people, just in the same proportion 
as potatoes do in Europe, and the crops of corn 
having failed the last year, the people had very little 
besides. Groundnuts, that is to say, the species of 
them which is called " kolche " in Kaniiri, and " bi- 
riji " in Fulfulde, which was the one grown here, as 
it seems, exclusively, I like very much, especially if 
roasted, for nibbling after supper, or even as a substi- 
tute for breakfast on the road, but I should not like 
to subsist upon them. In fact, I was scarcely able 
to swallow a few spoonfuls of this sort of porridge, 
which was not seasoned with honey: but I must 
confess that the spoons, which the people here use 
