Chap. XXXIV. 
mela'go. 
459 
stacks of corn — were of a peculiar description ; fine 
corn-fields spread around and between the huts. 
Having rested about noon for a little more than 
two hours on a rather damp and gloomy spot near a 
dirty pond, we continued our march, the country 
now assuming a very pleasant park-like appearance, 
clothed in the most beautiful green, at times broken 
by corn-fields, where the corn — Pennisetum or gero — 
stood already five feet high. We soon had to deliberate 
on the very important question which way to take, as 
the road divided into two branches, the northern or 
western one leading by way of Bumanda, while the 
southern or eastern one went by way of Sulleri. 
Most of my companions were for the former road, 
which they represented as much nearer, and as I 
afterwards saw, with the very best reason ; but fortu- 
nately the more gastronomic part of the caravan, 
headed by Billama, who was rather fond of good 
living, rejected Bumanda, as being inhabited by poor 
inhospitable pagans, and decided for the promising 
large dishes of Mohammedan Sulleri. This turned out 
to be a most fortunate circumstance for me, although 
the expectations of my friends were most sadly dis- 
appointed. For if we had followed the route by 
Bumanda, we should have crossed the Benuwe lower 
down, and I should not have seen the " Tepe," that 
most interesting and important locality, where the 
Benuwe is joined by the Faro, and swelled to that 
majestic river which is at least equal in magnitude to 
