Chap. LXXV. 
CROSSING CREEKS. 
157 
waters, the indented outline of which gave to our 
march a very indistinct direction, and formed a re- 
markable contrast to the dreary rising-ground on 
our left. The difficulties, however, after a while 
became more serious than ever, for we suddenly 
found ourselves on a narrow dyke, destined to keep 
back the water for the cultivation of rice, situated 
in the midst of a swamp. For the people of Tim- 
buktu, who were brought up in the swampy grounds, 
were not aware of any difficulty until we ap- 
proached the opposite shore, when we found that 
the dyke was intersected by a narrow channel, over 
which it was dangerous to leap our horses ; and al- 
though my own horse accomplished the feat with suc- 
cess, many of the others refused to do so, so that most 
of the people preferred making their way through the 
swamp. As for myself, it was highly interesting to 
me, thus to become aware of all the various features 
of this whole formation, although for the sake of 
comfort we ought to have kept further inland. 
When we at length left this swampy ground be- 
hind us, everything bore testimony to the fact, that 
we were approaching another little centre of life in 
this neglected tract, which, from a certain degree of 
civilisation, has almost relapsed into a state of total 
barbarism. Dykes made for the cultivation of rice, 
and places where the byrgu, the rank grass of the 
river, was passed through a slight fire in order to ob- 
tain honey from the stalks thus deprived of the small 
leaves, were succeeded by small fields of tobacco 
