Chap. LXXXI. 
TANNA. - MI'nGE. 
301 
Having then kept along the faddama as far as the 
village of Tanna, we left our former route, for 
a more northerly direction, and after a march of five 
miles reached the miserable remains of a hamlet 
called Jidder, which the preceding year had been 
ransacked and entirely destroyed by the Jermabe, 
as the inhabitants of Zerma, or Zaberma, are called 
by the Fiilbe. But the fine crops around testified to 
the natural fertility of the soiL In this village, which 
has a well surrounded by dum-palms, it had been our 
intention to halt; but through a ridiculous misun- 
derstanding of my Mejebri companion, who never 
could shorten the march sufficiently, but who this time 
was punished for his troublesome conduct, we con- 
tinued on, and leaving the village of Hari-bango at 
some distance on our right, did not reach another 
hamlet till after a march of about five miles more. 
This place, which is called Minge, had been likewise 
ransacked by the enemy in the turbulent state of the 
country, and exhibited a most miserable appearance; 
but here also there was a good deal of cultivation, 
and I was not a little astonished at finding, in such 
a desolate place, a man who was retailing meat in his 
hut, but on further inquiry, it proved to be the flesh 
of a sick animal, a few head of cattle having remained 
in the possession of the inhabitants. 
In order to avoid sleeping in the dirty huts, I had 
pitched my tent on the grassy ground, but was so 
much persecuted by a species of hairy ant, such as I 
had not observed before, that I obtained almost less 
