I02 THE EXPLORATION- OF THE NIGER The proposal pleased paetoo much to be refused, and the messengers departftcji' " ' Along with our\ friends the Kuntas, there came a little i band of Tuareg;. Kel Temulai, who lived further down stream in the'direction of Ganto, who were evidently sent to give.i*iQfination.

Th'q'were tall, strong fellows, spare and active. As rs-* tribe has no camp on the banks of the river, I told .'• them I should ascend the creek which leads to Ganto for the purpose of seeing them. In fact, I wished to ascertain their intentions. The Kel Temulai were one of the two tribes which divided the dominion of the region around Timbuktu ; Kabara and the southern portion of the plain which surrounds the city belong to them. The French drove them from it, and they fell back towards the east, gathering round their chief Madunia, who lived near Ganto and was more than a hundred years old.

On the next day, the 26th, a despatch actually arrived, which the Commandant of Timbuktu had managed to send on to us by canoe. A fortnight later we were to receive yet another at Rhergo, and our delight may be imagined, for we had had no news from home for ten months.

In the afternoon Abiddin arrived. Tall, strong, and well-made, he looked anything but amiable, and was far from communicative. I confess his first appearance struck me as anything but pleasing. He was by no means anxious to get into our good graces, and replied very dryly to my protestations of friendship. We talked together for about an hour, but I failed altogether to mollify him, and I began to despair of bringing him round.

In the evening I found out something more about him, and the position he occupies in the country. He is older than Aluatta, but from his very boyhood he showed such