176 
TRAVELS m AFRICA. Chap. LXXVI. 
saddles and books, under gover of my small European 
tent, which had now withstood more than four years' 
exposure to the weather, and was mended and patched 
in such a manner that the original material was 
scarcely discernible. 
Friday, length left this place, but only to 
June 2nd. ^q^q ^ dlstancc of scvcn or eight miles, 
to an encampment of a wealthy man of the name of 
Sidi Ilemin, who, although not belonging to the tribe 
of the Fulbe, was living amongst the Tawdrek, and 
had been settled in the place for a great many years. 
The contrast between the open river, bordered by 
the green grassy lowlands, which at present had been 
laid bare by the retiring waters, and the bleak desert 
which closely approached it, was very remarkable, espe- 
cially a short distance before we reached the encamp- 
ment, where an extensive sandy eminence excluded 
for a while the view of the river, and with a few 
scattered bushes of the poisonous ferndn, and the 
short herbage called ellob," made one fancy oneself 
transported into the heart of the desert. 
Along the former part of our road the low shore of 
the river had been clothed with a profusion of ex- 
cellent byrgu, but here there was none, and the poor 
camels again fared very badly. In the whole of 
this district along the river, where trees are very 
scanty, the camel is reduced to the diet of byrgu, al- 
though it by no means agrees with animals accus- 
tomed to the food of the young acacia trees and the 
dry herbage of the desert. All circumstances con- 
