130 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXXIV. 
creeks, small necks of land, and extensive swamps. 
Since we had last visited this place the waters 
had retired considerably, and the extensive swampy 
lowlands between Temdhar6t and Ernesse had become 
quite dry, so that we had to cross only a narrow 
channel-like strip of water. Following then the 
sandy dowTis, we soon reached the well known en- 
campment of the Kel-n-nokiinder, where 1 was hos- 
pitably entertained with a bowl of ghussub water. 
I was disposed to enjoy in privacy the view over the 
river, while lying in the shade of a siwak, but the 
number of Tawdrek who were passing by did not 
allow me much leisure, for the tents of Saul, as well 
as those of El W6ghdugu, were at a short distance. 
But these people, conscious of their having deserved 
punishment at the hand of their liege lord, were 
frightened aYv^ay by the rising of a simiim, as it is 
popularly believed in the country that this wind is 
the sign of the approach of the great army, or tdbu, 
of the Awelimmiden, and they all started off the next 
morning. 
The river, which is here very broad, forms a large 
low island called Banga-gungu, the "hippopotamus 
island," while a smaller one, distinguished by a fine 
tamarind tree, is called Biire. I endeavoured in the 
afternoon to reach the bank of the river itself ; but 
it is beset with a peculiar kind of grass of great height, 
armed with such oiFensive bristles that it is almost 
impossible to penetrate through it. In the latter part 
of the cold and during the hot season, a path leads 
