104 
RIVER SALDE. 
passing since the preceding day, ceased at the village of Galo. 
We afterwards saw nothing but sandy and uncultivated plains 
as far -as Diaba, where we arrived at noon. The chief of this 
village invited my companions to partake of his dinner ; I 
alone was excluded from this honour; he sought to excuse 
himself by saying, that the dishes he had to offer were not 
adapted to the taste of the whites, and would certainly disgust 
me : but Boukari afterwards informed me, that this man was 
so zealous an observer of his religion, that he would have 
considered it a sin to admit a Christian to his table. 
The river Salde, thus named because it discharges 
itself into the Senegal at the village of Saldé, passes a quarter 
of a league to the north of Dial)a. It runs from north to 
north-west, and rises near Tionko, a village which is a 
day's journey to the north of Diaba. This river, where I saw 
it, is about twenty paces broad ; its banks are not high, its 
bottom clayey ; it is bordered on each side to the distance of 
half a league by alluvial soil, which will bear a comparison 
with our richest lands. This space is covered with plantations 
of large millet, of the most flourishing appearance. The 
beautiful verdure of these fields gladdens and refreshes the 
eye of the traveller, fatigued by the view of sterile plains, 
parched by the intense heat of the sun. 
The pleasing scenery on the banks of the river Saldé, 
the thick shade of the trees which screened its current from 
the heat of the atmosphere, the transparency and purity of 
