272 
TliAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXX. 
advance and chose a place for a short halt during 
the midday heat, where a sort of faddama, which 
during the highest state of the inundation forms 
a considerable open sheet of water round an island 
thickly clad with dum-palms, indents the rising bank 
of the river, offering, even at the present time, a hand- 
some tank of clear water. The surrounding slope was 
adorned with a fine grove of dum-palms, and, pro- 
tected by the shade of some rich hajilij, produced a 
great profusion of succulent herbage. 
Having rested in this pleasant spot for a couple of 
hours, we pursued our march along this green hollow 
at present half dried up, and feeding also a good 
many tamarind trees, and after a march of about half 
a mile, reached the spot where this shallow branch 
joins a considerable open arm of the river, which 
here is tolerably free from rocks. A little below, it is 
compressed between rocky masses projecting from 
either bank, intersecting the whole branch, so that 
only a narrow passage is left, enclosed as it were by 
a pair of iron gates formed by nature. Yet the 
navigation was not obstructed even at the present 
season, as a boat about thirty-five feet long and rowed 
by six men, which went quickly past us, evidently 
proved. The path was lined with mushrooms, called 
by my companions tobl e nderi. 
This branch of the river presented a very different 
aspect when, after having ascended a rising ground, 
we had cut off a bend or elbow of the river, for here 
it formed a kind of rapid, over which the water 
