Chap. LXXV. 
ghe'rgo. 
151 
Our road from this point to the town led along the 
border of the swampy lowlands, following a great 
many windings round the indented shore of the 
creek. Thus we reached, after a march of a little 
more than two miles, the bank opposite the village of 
Ghergo, and began looking about for some time for a 
fit place to encamp, for the village itself, situated as 
it is behind a large backwater, could not be reached. 
The opposite shore is extremely bleak and unbroken, 
being destitute even of bush, while only three iso- 
lated trees dotted the ground for a great distance, 
and these were unfortunately too far off from the 
ford,, where w^e chose our camping-ground, to be of 
any use to us during our stay. 
Ghergo is a place not w^ithout interest, and seems 
to be of considerable antiquity. According to tradi- 
tion, it is stated to be seven years older than Tumbu- 
tu, or Timbuktu, and seems therefore well deserving 
of a right to be identified with one of the cele- 
brated centres of life in these regions in the first 
dawn of historical record. It was originally situated 
on the main, occupying an eminence a little to the east 
of our encampment, till, in more recent times, the 
weakened and unprotected inhabitants Avere obliged 
to retire behind the backwater from fear of the 
Tawarek. Certainly, the insular nature of their 
dwelling-place is of a rather indistinct character ; 
for in general, with the exception of those years 
when the inundations of the river reach an extraor- 
dinary height, as had been the case this year, the 
L 4 
