BAKAUKO. 
5 
they acknowledge no authority except that of their head man. 
The village and its vicinity exhibited every appearance of neat- 
ness and plenty, and the valley below was cropped, especially 
with Indian corn, which is usually more forward, in this climate, 
than any other grain. The people manufacture a particular kind 
of coarse cloth, from the wool and hair of their sheep and goats; 
they first spin the materials into small ropes, instead of threads, 
and these, when sewed together, make a covering like a quilt. 
The woman of the house retained great remains of beauty, and had 
two fine children in her arms, plump and healthy. We descended 
thence through the cultivated grounds nearly in a southerly direc- 
tion, leaving on our right a lofty hill not unlike that of Riacotta, in 
the Baramaal country. A material alteration now began to take 
place in the vegetation ; the kolqual became less frequent, and the 
whole face of the country was again covered with acacias, the 
verdure of which, and the freshness of the turf, composed a scene 
very like some of our forests in England. We passed another very 
large Daroo tree, growing by the side of a brook, the wide spreading 
branches of which covered a space of at least three hundred feet 
in circumference. Our guides were very unwilling that we should 
take up our quarters under it for the night, lest we should be seri- 
ously incommoded by the expected overflowing of the brook ; and 
indeed its roots, bared to a great extent, by former torrents, shewed 
that this apprehension was by no means without foundation. In 
consequence we proceeded two miles farther, to the village of 
Bakauko, where we halted, having been overtaken by the rain just 
before we reached it. Our lodging was a place that in England would 
scarcely have served for a cow-shed ; but the civility of the people, 
