270 COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINY SEASON. 
then to direct my course towards the Niger. I purposed 
descending this river in a canoe as far as Tombuctoo, where I 
flattered myself I should arrive without much difficulty, by 
passing myself off as the slave of my Marabout. On the 4th, 
at five o'clock in the afternoon, a tremendous clap of thunder, 
which announced thearri\^al of the rains, was to mean omen 
of the calamities that were about to oppose an insurmountable 
obstacle to the execution of my projects. At this terrible 
sound all the inhabitants rushed out of their huts ; we saw the 
storm in the east like a thick fog, enveloping the highest 
mountains from our sight ; it approached ; the mass of water 
which advanced was prodigious, but its progress was so slow 
that we had time to quit our own hut, and seek refuge in 
Bonbon's, which was more substantial. We had scarcely 
entered, when the frightful spectacle of a deluge presented 
itself ; the rain descended in torrents ; hail augmented the 
horror of the scene ; the cattle, not knowing where to find 
shelter, uttered dismal moans ; in an instant the ground was 
inundated. It is impossible in temperate climates to form any 
idea of the quantity of rain which falls for six months of the 
year in the tropical regions of Africa. The humidity which 
is thus diftused throughout the atmosphere, is the most formi- 
dable obstacle to the progress of Europeans in this part of the 
world, in consequence of the diseases which it engenders 
among them. 
I was obliged to stay at Bandeia to sell my horse, and 
