286 
TEAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXX. 
US for a hostile host, and had armed themselves ; and 
it was very fortunate for my servant with whom 
they first met, as well as for ourselves, that one of 
them understood a little Hdusa, and was able to 
make out from his description the nature of our 
undertaking. But for this, we should perhaps have 
been overwhelmed by numbers. The first troop con- 
sisted of upwards of 100 men, all armed with bow and 
spear, and round black shields, many of them wearing 
a battle-axe besides ; and smaller detachments were 
posted at short intervals up to the very outskirts of their 
village. They consisted of both Songhay and Fiilbe, 
and the greater part wore nothing but leather aprons. 
They wanted us to accompany them to their village, 
but we did not feel sufficient confidence in them to 
do so, and were glad when we got rid of them. On 
this occasion I had another proof of the warlike 
character of my Arab companion 'All el A'geren, who, 
as long as there was any danger, kept at a respectful 
distance behind the camels, but, as soon as he saw 
that all was over, he rushed out on his little pony in 
the most furious manner, and threatened to put to 
death the whole body of men, so that I had great 
difficulty in appeasing him. Probably, if we had 
had a serious encounter, he would have turned his 
horse's head, and I should never have seen him again. 
When we continued our march, we were gratified 
to see a wide extent of ground covered with fine 
cotton plantations ; on our left, where the river 
again approached, much kharrwa, or berkinde, ap- 
