g their drummer Assam, and performing
his work with great skill, caused general enthusiasm among the dancing
people.

On their journey on the 29th of December, they found the ground covered
with _had_, a plant regarded by the Arabs as the most nutritious of all
the herbs of the desert for the camel. Numerous footprints of the
giraffe were seen, besides those of gazelles and ostriches, and also of
the large and beautiful antelope (_Leucoryx_). Here, too, was seen the
_magaria_, a tree which bears a fruit of the size of a cherry, of a
light brown colour. When dry it is pounded and formed into little
cakes, and is thus eaten.

On the 1st of January, 1851, they fell in with a tribe of the Tagana,
whose morality is of the lowest order. Hunting, together with
cattle-breeding, is their chief occupation, and on their little swift
horses they catch the large antelope as well as the giraffe.

A steep descent of a hundred feet conducted the caravan off the high
region of the Hammada to a level plain.

On the 7th they came in sight of a village, where they saw for the first
time that style of architecture which extends over the whole of central
Africa. The huts are composed entirely of the stalk of the Indian corn,
with only a slight support from the branches of trees. They are
somewhat low, curved over at the top. Amid them were seen small stacks
of corn, raised on scaffolds of wood about two feet high, to protect
them from the white ant and mouse, as also from the _jerboa_, which is
so pretty an object to look at as it jumps about the fields, but is an
especial foe to the natives. The people came forth from the villages to
offer cheese and Indian corn. They were black pagans and slaves, meanly
and scantily dressed, but far more civilised in reality than the
fanatical people among whom Barth and his companions had hitherto been
travelling.

On the 9th of January the travellers reached Tagelel. From this place
there was little danger in their proceeding singly, and it was agreed,
in consequence of the low state of their finances, that they should
separate, in order to try what each might be able to accomplish
single-handed and without ostentation, till new supplies should arrive
from home.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

TRAVELS OF DR. BARTH, CONTINUED.

DR. BARTH QUITS MR. RICHARDSON--REACHES TASSAWA--ARRIVES AT KANO--
FLOURISHING COUNTRY--KANO DESCRIBED--KINDLY TREATED--MANUFACTURES AND
IMPORTS--SETS OUT WITH HIS SERVA