436 
TRAVELS IN AFKICA. Chap. XXXIV 
tiful irregularly-shaped valley, surrounded on all 
sides by mountains, which are seen from the interior 
of the village, The scarcity of provisions was en- 
tirely due to the great expedition of last year, which 
had taken away all hands from the labours of the 
field ; for the land around here is extremely fertile, 
and at present, besides sorghum or holcus, produced 
dankali, or sweet potatoes, goza, or yams, manioc, and 
a great quantity of gunna, a large variety of cala- 
bash {Fueillea trilobata, Cucurbita maxima ?). Ba- 
danfjo is also interesting and important to the ethno- 
logist, as being the northernmost seat of the extensive 
tribe of the Fall, or Fari, which, according to the 
specimens of its language which I was able to collect, 
is entirely distinct from the tribe of the Batta and 
their kinsmen the Zani and Margin, and seems to 
have only a remote affinity with the Wandala and 
Gamerghii languages. At present the village is 
principally, but not exclusively, inhabited by the 
ruling race, and I estimated the population at about 
three thousand. 
Saturday After we had left the rich vegetation 
June 14th. which surrounds the village, we soon en- 
tered a wild and hilly district, and while passing 
over the spur of a rocky eminence on our left, ob- 
served close to the brink of the cliffs overhanging 
our heads the huts of the pagan village Buggela, and 
heard the voices of the natives, while at some distance 
on our right detached hills, all of which seemed to 
consist of granite, rose from the rugged and thickly- 
