POULA HUTS. 97 
offered to take one of my travelling- companions behind 
me ; this offer was not accepted, as it was required that I 
should give up my horse. In Europe I would have acceded 
to this proposition, but in Afri'ca I refused to do so ; and 
surely I was excusable. We marched all night : at a little 
distance from our track, we saw some huts, which served as a 
retreat to the Poulas, when they conducted their beasts to 
graze in these woods in the rainy season. A few branches on 
which they throw a little straw form this bird's nest, for what 
other name can be given to a cabin three feet wide and three 
feet high? Here it is that the Poula squats. The ground over 
which we had to travel during the night was stony, and des- 
titute of verdure on account of the extreme drought of the 
season. Nothing is more dreary thnn these deserts, where not 
even any animal fixes its abode, since not a single drop of 
water is to be found there. The silence of death pervades 
them, and certainly it is not the eloquent silence which 
inspires melancholy souls in the forests of the West Indies. 
February 22d. Wlien day-light appeared we discovered 
a cheerful verdure in that part of the forest where we 
were ; baobabs were seen in great numbers, but above all we 
remarked the immense quantity of gum and ebony trees. 
After a march of nearly fifteen leagues, we stopped in an open 
place, where we found some tufted trees, which every one 
hastened to reach. Whilst my Marabout was occupied in 
preparing breakfast, I went myself to cut fodder for my 
o 
