106 
TRAVELS IN AFEICA. Chap. LXXIII. 
the green border of a backwater which stretched out 
behind the sandy downs, which were enlivened by- 
cattle. Marching along this low verdant ground, we 
reached a place called Tautilt at eleven o'clock. Here 
Woghda, the father-in-law of W6ghdugu, had just 
pitched his tents, and part of his luggage was, at the 
moment of our arrival, being carried over from the 
island of K6ra, where the chief Saul had encamped, 
and the shores of which were enlivened by numerous 
herds of horned cattle. 
Such is the remarkable mode of life adopted by 
these southern sections of the mysterious veiled 
rovers of the desert. Totally metamorphosed as they 
are by the character of the new region of which they 
have taken possession, they wander about and re- 
move their encampments from one island to the 
other, and from one shore to the other, swimming 
their cattle across the river. They have almost re- 
nounced the use of the camel, that hardy animal, 
which afforded their only means of existence in those 
desert regions which had formerly been their home. 
It was a highly interesting camping-ground. This 
branch of the river, which was about two hundred 
yards broad, and at present from six to eight feet 
deep, was enlivened by several boats, together with a 
good number of cattle, apparently rather averse to 
entering the water, which in summer usually dries 
up ; the Tawdrek busily arranging their little property 
and pitching their tents, or erecting their little booth- 
like huts of matting ; then behind us the dense forest, 
