Chap. LXXXI. 
LEAVE SAY. 
299 
ances it must sometimes be entirely submerged, so 
that vessels must be upon their guard in navigating 
this part of the river, especially as it is not improbable 
that there are more sunken rocks hereabouts. 
It was with a deep feeling of satisfaction that I 
again crossed this magnificent river, on whose banks 
I had lived for so long a time, and the course of 
which I had followed for so many hundred miles. 
It would have been of no small importance, if I had 
been able to follow its banks as far as Yaiiri, and 
thus to connect by my own inspection the middle 
course of this noble river with the lower part, as far 
as it has been visited by the Landers, and partly, at 
least, by various distinguished English officers. But 
such an undertaking was entirely out of the question, 
on account of the exhausted state of my means, the 
weak condition of my health, and the advanced stage 
of the rainy season, which made it absolutely neces- 
sary for me to reach Sokoto as soon as possible ; and, 
what was still more, in consequence of the rebellious 
state of the province of Dendina, which at the time 
made any intercourse along the river impossible for 
so small a troop as I had then under my command. 
At this season of the year, moreover, it would be 
impracticable, even if the country were in a tranquil 
state, to keep close along the banks of the river. 
This time also I had succeeded in crossing the 
river without any accident, with the single excep- 
tion, that a camel which belonged to one of my 
companions was so obstinate, that it was found im- 
