214 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXVII. 
former capital of this Nigritian empire ; but the 
fine tamarind trees, and the beautiful date palms 
burst now too distinctly upon our view to allow me 
to relinquish the pleasure of reaching them, without 
further delay. It was a most interesting and cheering 
sight to behold a large expanse of fields of native corn 
take the place of the desert. The whole country be- 
came one open cultivable level, uninterrupted by any 
downs ; and I thought at that moment that we had 
bid farewell to the desert for ever, and entered 
the fertile region of Central Negroland, an expec- 
tation which, however, was not fully realized by 
what I observed further on. But here, at least, even 
in the present decayed state of the country, there 
were some remains of industry, and the stubble- 
fields of saba, or sorghum, were succeeded by tobacco 
plantations, and, after a slight interruption, by rice- 
grounds under water. However, darkness set in be- 
fore we reached the miserable hovels of G6g6, and we 
encamped on a large open area, bordered round about 
by detached huts of matting, from which the ruins of 
a large tower-like building of clay rose to a consider- 
able height, and by a fine grove of rich trees, running 
on into a dense underwood of siwak. The river was 
not visible from this point. 
