308 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXXI. 
and industry ; but my people argued that famished 
men, like the distressed inhabitants of this town, 
did not possess sufficient energy for cultivating 
the ground. 
Following a southerly direction we approached 
nearer the border of the dallul, or rdfi, the surface of 
which alternately presented higher or lower ground, 
the depressions being of a swampy character. Towards 
the east the valley was bordered by a chain of hills, 
rising to a considerable elevation, on the top of which 
an isolated baobab tree indicated the site of a place 
called Gaw6, by which the road leads from Tdmkala 
to Junju. Gradually the cultivation decreased, and 
was for a w^hile succeeded by dum-bush, from which a 
very fine but solitary gamji tree started forth. How- 
ever, the country further on improved and began to 
exhibit an appearance of greater industry, consisting 
of corn-fields and small villages, half of which indi- 
cated by their names their origin from the Songhay ; 
others pointed to Hausa. All of them were sur- 
rounded by fine crops, and one called Bommo-hogu 
was furnished with a small market-place. It was a 
cheering incident that an inhabitant of the village of 
Gatara, which we passed further on, gave vent to his 
generous feelings by presenting me with a gift of 
fifty shells, which I could not refuse, although I 
handed them to my companions. It was here also 
that we met the only horsemen whom we had seen in 
the province. They had rather an energetic and 
stately appearance. Having passed a small market- 
