THE CARAVAN CROSSES A STREAM. 
431 
my luggage on the back of the ass, we continued our journey. 
I followed him, carrying the mat on which I slept, an earthen 
vessel, and my umbrella; when we rejoined our party, some 
of the women relieved me from this little burden. Several 
Foulahs of Coloni escorted me to a little distance from the 
village, and, at parting, they begged me to give them my 
blessing. One of them put his hand in mine, and the others 
in succession did the same. 1 muttered a few verses of the 
Koran, and to make an end of the ceremony, I blew upon 
their hands, which they rubbed over their faces, devoutly ex- 
claiming, Alam-doul-illahi, and went away satisfied. 
We had now come up to the caravan, which had stopped 
for a short time to range itself in the order which had been 
observed on several preceding days. We proceeded five 
miles eastward over a good road. The country was better 
wooded than that through which we had passed the day be- 
fore, and was in many places covered with stubble. The 
soil consisted of firm sand. We crossed a stream, which 
delayed us a considerable time. Both men and women threw 
off their clothes and forded it, the water being up to their 
waists. Those who had no loads to carry crossed it by a 
tottering bridge, consisting of a row of perpendicular poles 
planted in the bed of the stream, to which other poles were 
negligently tied in a tran verse direction. The negroes 
stepped upon these transverse poles, and held by the upright 
ones : they every moment ran the risk of falling into the 
water; however, we ail got across without accident. The 
banks of this stream are well wooded. We continued 
our course five miles to the S. E. over a sandy soil, the sur- 
face of which was covered with gravel. The excessive heat 
rendered our journey very fatiguing. About eleven in the 
morning we arrived at Bancousso, a large village containing 
a population of five or six hundred, and situated in a well 
cultivated plain, shaded by baobabs. This village has a large 
market, well supplied with the productions of the country ; I 
