422 
NIBAKH ASSO. 
bought a small piece for five or ten cowries^ devoured it 
greedily, and washed it down with a draught of beer. The 
flesh was of a reddish colour, but looked very well ; and I 
dare say it was much better than that of the camel which I 
was afterwards obliged to eat in the desert. Our Mandin- 
goes exhibited their stock of nuts, and sold some of them to 
the merry Bambaras. I also disposed of those which I 
brought from Tangrera, and which they bought in pre- 
ference. There are people in this country who make beer 
and sell it retail. I had a great wish to taste it, but my 
character of Musulman rendered that impossible. On holi- 
days, these dealers in beer station themselves at the scene 
of festivity, and are soon surrounded by the lovers of this 
liquor, which they sell in small calabashes. I observed that 
they looked very sharply after their payment, and refused to 
serve those who had no money. In the evening, the inhabit- 
ants of the place were almost all intoxicated. They brought 
out about twelve or fifteen horses, and made them prance 
about to the sound of drums. The young people danced all 
night. Old Kai-mou, my guide, was so extravagant as to 
buy a large fowl for supper, and I gave him salt to season 
the sauce. We made an excellent meal. 
At six o'clock in the morning of the 16th of February, 
we again set forth, and proceeded four miles in a N. N. E. 
direction o The soil was composed of sand and gravel, and 
the vegetation consisted of numerous ces and nedes, some 
mimosas, wild figs, rhamnus lotus, and bombaces. At 
eleven o'clock in the morning, we arrived at Wattouro. 
We met a caravan of traders returning from Jenne, They 
informed us that the war between Sego and that town 
interrupted all communication, and that the Moorish traders 
were afraid to go to Sansanding on account of this war. 
They also told us that colat-nuts fetched no price at Jenne. 
The market at Wattouro, which was in the shade of some 
bombaces, was well supplied with dried fish, millet, a little 
rice, and butcher's meat. 
