little Fletcher, in case of meeting the Basé, who
hunted in this country. The aggageers mounted their
horses; each man carried an empty water-skin slung
to his saddle, to be filled at the river should it be
necessary to quit its banks. We started along the
upward course of the Royân.
For seven hours we rode, sometimes along the
bed of the river between lofty overhanging rocks, or
through borders of fine forest-trees ; at other times
we cut off a bend of the stream, and rode for some
miles through beautiful country diversified with hills,
and abounding in enormous baobab-trees (Adansonia
digitata). At length we entered the mountains at
the foot of the great chain. Here the views were
superb. The Royân was no longer a stream of
ninety or a hundred yards in width, but it was reduced
to a simple mountain torrent about forty yards
across, blocked in many places by masses of rock,
while at others it had formed broad pools, all of which
were how perfectly dry, and exhibited a bed of glaring
sand. Numerous mountain ravines joined the main
channel, and as the inclination was extremely rapid,
there could be little doubt that the violent storms of
the rainy reason, descending from the great chain of
mountains, would, by concentrating in the Royân,
suddenly give birth to an impetuous torrent, that
would materially affect the volume of the Settite.
The entire country bore witness to the effect of violent
rains, as the surface was tom and water-worn.
We had ridden nearly thirty miles, having seen