TRAVELS IN AFRICA. ^59 
Many of the towns had suffered much in their 
walls and houses, which being wholly composed 
of clay, when once wet tumbled to the ground. 
The view of Tuabo at that moment was pecu- 
liarly striking : it had all the appearance of a 
floating town, rendered the more picturesque 
by being beautifully shaded w ith dates, tamarind, 
and other large trees. The inhabitants were in 
the utmost consternation lest it should rise 
higher, in which case they would have been 
obliged to leave the town. 
It is impossible to convey an accurate idea of 
the grandeur of the scene. The Senegal, which 
is there nearly half a mile wide, and then higher 
than remembered by the oldest inhabitant of 
the country, was hurrying along at the rate 
of four miles an hour, covered with small float- 
ing islands and trees, on both which were seen 
standing large aigretts, whose glaring white 
feathers, rendered doubly so by a brilliant sun, 
formed a pleasing contrast with the green reeds 
around them, or the brown trunks of trees 
whereon they stood. 
The mountains on either side of the river, to 
whose bases the inundation reached, (forming an 
extensive sheet of water, on the surface of which 
appeared the tops of trees nearly covered,) were 
clothed with the most luxuriant verdure, and, 
s ^ 
