154 
TRAVELS m AFRICA. 
Chap. LXXV. 
dared not sell it, through fear of the Tawarek. I 
was not a little surprised at the large species of geese 
which they were breeding. 
Tuesday, Started in the cool of the morning, 
May 23rd. j^ggpij^g ^lose to the bordcr of the swampy 
creek, which gradually becomes narrower, while the 
principal trunk of the river approaches. After a 
march of about a mile and a half, we receded a little 
into the desert, which exhibited an immense number 
of footprints of the giraffe, generally three or four 
together. Here the vegetation was rather scanty, 
the ground in general being covered with nothing 
but low bushes ; but, after we had approached a 
small ridge of sandy downs, we crossed a hollow, 
which, being the dried up ground of a pond, or dhaye, 
was surrounded with diim-bush and tobacco-grounds. 
We had been joined some time previously by a 
chief of the Kel-antsar, who invited us to spend the 
hot hours of the day with him. We therefore halted 
at an early hour by the side of his encampment, 
which was situated on a promontory close beyond 
the rich vale whence the district was called "erashar ;" 
Kirtebe and Tarashit we had left on one side. The 
people slaughtered a whole ox, and sent us a great 
many dishes of rice and sour milk. The whole tribe 
of the Kel-antsar is rather numerous, numbering 
upwards of 1000 full-grown men, but they are scat- 
tered over a wide extent of country, reaching from 
G6g6 to Ras el ma, and even into the interior of Ta- 
gdnet, the district between Timbuktu and A'zawad. 
