he people appear to have gathered all confusedly together, headed by
their chiefs and countenanced by the marabouts, to destroy the Infidels
who were come to pollute their country; but, undoubtedly, the major part
were excited against us by the hope of plunder.

All the inhabitants of Ghanet[11] are Maghata, or descendants of the
children of the Tuaricks, Haghar and Azgher, which were born to them by
their slaves. It is these Maghata who were said to be in pursuit of us
under Sidi Jafel. There are many of the same people in the open desert,
for the most part bandits, or at least inclined to that way of life.
They levy contributions on the caravans, and on the settled people when
they can venture.

[11] This is the oasis of Janet, mentioned previously.--ED.

The valley, which embraces Seloufeeat and Tintaghoda, is said to extend,
by a series of connexions, as far as Zinder,--probably a fanciful
connexion of the people. It is a most picturesque wady, lined with black
granite rocks, some rising high into castellated peaks on the
south-east, with a lower range of hills on the north-west. It is not
above half a mile wide in its mean breadth; herbage does not abound over
all its bed, but trees cover its surface. The water is mostly rain
water; here and there, however, springs are found. All the water is
good, and copious in supply.

If we may judge from what we have seen of the marks of late rains in
these districts, and the freshness of the herbage, the rainy season is
just beginning in Aheer. There is not yet very abundant herbage, but it
will soon greatly increase.

The rain continues to pour in torrents, the boundary mountains on either
hand are scarcely visible, and a watery vapour prevents us from tracing
the course of the valley. We have hitherto had to struggle against
mental anxieties, against fatigues, heat, drought, and thirst: we have
now to contend with rain and with floods. Everything is becoming awfully
damp, and everybody looks awfully dismal. I can see, from the lugubrious
countenances of the Kailouees and the blacks, that the rainy season is
their real winter. They go shivering about, and seem as if they were
half drowned. Our Bornou gauze-cotton tent still bears up well, however,
and keeps out the rain.

I was engaged in admiring the tent, and in reflecting on the changed
region into which we had entered--a region of luxuriant vegetation and
watery atmosphere--when there was again a wild holloa of "T