472 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXV. 
sperate was the struggle of the camels, which were 
too obstinate to be guided by the frail vessels, and 
had to be pushed through alone, and could only be 
moved by the most severe beating ; the camel of the 
Hajji was for a while given up in despair by the 
whole party. At length they were induced to cross 
the channel, the current carrying them down to a 
great distance, and our whole party arrived safe on 
the sandy beach of the headland, where there was 
not a bit of shade. This whole headland for two or 
three months every year is covered with water, 
although its chief part, which was overgrown with 
tall reed-grass, was at present about fifteen feet above 
the surface. 
The river, where we crossed it, was, at the very 
least, eight hundred yards broad, and in its channel 
generally eleven feet deep, and was liable to rise, 
under ordinary circumstances, at least thirty, or even 
at times fifty feet higher. Its upper course at that 
time was known to me, as far as the town of Gewe 
on the road to Logon ; but further on I had only 
heard from the natives that it came from the south, 
or rather from the S.S.E. 
It was a quarter before one o'clock when we left 
the beach in order to cross the second river, the 
Faro*, which is stated to come from Mount Labul, 
* I did not even once hear this name pronounced Paro, but 
lower down it may be so ; for, as I have had several times occasion 
to state, p and f 9 or rather ph> are frequently confounded in Ne- 
groland, just as r and /, dh and I or r. 
