cted as his broker, well accustomed to
travel in Negroland; but, being an Arab, the doctor only put confidence
in him as long as circumstances were propitious.

He encamped, as was his custom on commencing a journey, only two miles
from the city. It was the coldest night he had experienced in
Negroland, the thermometer being only nine degrees above the
freezing-point.

On the 25th of December he arrived at Zinder, the frontier town of
Bornou, built round and about masses of rock, which rose out of the
ground, the picturesqueness of the place being increased by groups of
date-palms. Water, which collects at short depths below the surface,
fertilises a number of tobacco-fields, and gives to the vegetation
around a very rich character.

On the 5th of February, 1853, the party entered the town of Katseena,
where he laid in a supply of articles. Here they were detained for a
considerable time, as an expedition was setting out against the Fulbe,
and it would have been dangerous to proceed until it was known what
direction the hostile army would take. By the 25th of March, however,
he was ready to continue his journey, the governor himself having
arranged to accompany him for some days, as the whole country was
exposed to imminent danger, and, further on, a numerous escort was to
attend them.

Interesting as his journey was, it is impossible to describe the various
places he visited or the adventures he met with. Day after day he
travelled on, sometimes detained for weeks and months together, at one
town or another, though he was never idle, always employing himself in
gaining information, or in studying the language of the district through
which he was to pass.

On the 19th of June he was close to the Niger, and hoped that the next
day he might behold with his own eyes that great river of Western Africa
which has caused such immense curiosity in Europe, and the upper part of
the large eastern branch of which he had himself discovered. Elated
with such feelings, he set out early the next morning, and, after a
march of two hours through a rocky wilderness covered with dense bushes,
he obtained the first sight of the river, and in another hour reached
the place of embarkation, opposite the town of Say. Here he beheld, in
a noble, unbroken stream, the mighty Niger gliding along in a
north-north-east and south-south-west direction, though at this spot,
owing to being hemmed in by rocky banks, only about seven hundred