Dark
Sand-Stone Ridges Form The Only Landmarks Among These Billows Of Sand.
After a fortnight's travelling, vegetation once more appeared, in the
form of scattered clumps of herbage and stunted shrubs, the leaves of
which were most acceptable to the camels.
Herds of gazelles crossed the
path, hyenas abounded, and the footsteps of the ostrich were perceived.
As they went on, the face of the country improved, the valleys became
greener, and the colocynth and the kosom, with its red flowers, were in
full bloom, "The freshness of the air, with the melody of the songsters
that were perched among the creeping plants, whose flowers diffused an
aromatic odour, formed a delightful contrast to the desolate region
through which they had passed." In the neighbourhood was a tribe - of the
Gunda Tiboos, who supported themselves and their horses chiefly on
camels' milk. The chief of this people was quite delighted by a coarse
scarlet robe and a small, mirror with which he was presented. During the
march, the natives committed several thefts upon the caravan, the members
of which in their turn could hardly be prevented from making reprisals.
At length they reached Lari, in the province of Kanem, the most northern
part of Bornou, - a place containing two thousand inhabitants, who dwell
in huts constructed of rushes, with conical tops. They had now reached an
important stage on their journey; for "the great lake Tchad, glowing with
the golden rays of the sun in its strength," appeared within a mile of
the elevated spot on which they stood.
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