the river to a town called Dugamoo, where we halted. The banks of the river are every where studded with towns and villages. Dec. 23.—The morning was cold. Dr. Oudney had been very unwell during the night, and felt himself extremely weak. At eight o'clock we left Dugamoo, and, following a winding path, nearly due west, we reached Deltago, having passed a number of towns and villages, one of which, called Kukabonee, was of considerable size, and contained perhaps 5000 or 6000 inhabitants. The country to the west of Old Birnee rises in gentle undulations of hill and dale. There are very few trees, except on the banks of the Yow. The soil is chiefly a red clay. The inhabitants raise great quantities of Guinea corn, and beans something like calavances. We had a very plentiful market. The people here preferred coral, and the beads called conteembalee, in exchange for grain, &c. to native cloth. Gunpowder was much sought after as a medicine. To-day we gave a sheep as a boozafer or gift, by way of footing which all pay who travel this way for the first time; a practice akin to our usage on doubling capes, or crossing the tropics and fine. Cotton seed bruised is very much used for feeding sheep, bullocks,, asses, and camels. These animals soon become extremely fond of it : it is an excellent food for fattening them. In the evening gussule was sent for our horses and camels, as had been done in the other towns : we passed as soon as the people learned we were the friends of the sheikh. Dec. 24.—Dr. Oudney felt himself much better. We halted to-day, on account of one of the merchants’ camels falling lame ; the owner was obliged to send to Dugamor to buy another. The kafila kept a grand boozafer day, and all merchant new-comers paid a dollar apiece, or gave its value in goods.—Time is to these people of no importance : whatever accidental occurrence takes place to detain them, they bear the delay with perfect indifference. Dec. 25.—The weather clear and cool. We left Deltago, and, winding along the banks of the river, or occasionally cutting off a bend by a cross path, we reached Bedeekarfee. There is more wood here than we had yet seen, and the soil is still a strong red clay. Villages and towns are numerous; the inhabitants principally belong to the Alluanee tribe of Shouah Arabs. The town of Bedeekarfee is large and populous. The governor, commonly called in this and other African towns Sultan, although holding a subordinate command, had seen us when we were on the expedition to Munga with the sheikh of Bornou. On our arrival he came out to meet us, and gave us a very cordial reception. He was an elderly man, much afflicted with a urinary disorder, for which he consulted Dr. Oudney. His dwelling, large, extremely clean, and constructed after the manner of the country, consisted of a spacious quadrangular enclosure, surrounded with mats fixed to high poles, within which were several small round huts, also of matting, with thatched conical roofs, each surmounted by an ostrich egg. In outward appearance, these huts somewhat resemble our bee-hives. Their walls are frequently made of clay. The ostrich egg is a distinctive mark of the occupant being a man of rank. The floor inside is covered with sand; and the only furniture is a bench to supply the place of a bedstead, and a few mats for squatting upon, besides some carved or coloured gourds and wide-mouthed earthen jars, piled above one another, and intended to combine ornament with utility. There, is but one opening or door-way, which is round at the top, and closed by a wicket. The door always faces to the west, on account of the prevailing rains coming from the opposite quarter. The grand entrance of the enclosure is often a hut erected at the western side of the square, with an open thoroughfare, where a black slave officiates as porter. Each separate hut is galled a coozee. The Arab women of this place are really beautiful; they wear their hair differently from their countrywomen elsewhere : the fashion of it is such, that at a distance it might be mistaken for a helmet.— a large braid on the crown having some semblance to a crest,
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