234 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXVIII. 
shahariye, two black tobes, two black shawls, three 
tiirkedis, a silk cord of Fas manufacture for suspend- 
ing the sword, and several other smaller articles. 
During our stay in this place I had laid down the 
course of the river between Timbuktu and G6g6 on a 
tolerably large scale, as far as it was possible to do 
so, written a despatch to government, and several 
letters to members of the Royal Geographical Society 
and other private friends, and having sealed the 
parcel, I delivered it to the Sheikh in order that he 
might forward it without delay upon his return to 
Timbuktu. I am sorry to say, however, that this 
parcel only arrived a few months ago, having been laid 
up in Ghadames for more than two years. 
Before leaving Gogo, I was anxious to ascertain ex- 
actly the nature of the river along this shore, as on our 
march both to and from the Ga-bero, we had kept at 
some distance from its bank, and I arranged with the 
Sheikh's nephew to survey the shores of the river for 
some distance downwards. When I was about to 
mount on horseback, Thdkkefi requested that I would 
put on my European dress, as he was anxious to see 
how it looked ; but, unfortunately, instead of an offi- 
cer's dress, which would certainly have pleased them 
very much, I had no European clothes with me except 
a black dress suit, which could only impress them 
with a rather unfavourable idea of our style of clothing, 
and although they approved of the trowsers, they 
could scarcely fail to think the shape of the coat highly 
absurd. But having never before seen fine black 
