FROM FAFA TO SAY 275 be the jslightest doubt, for they have preserved the language of their ancestors.

A little above Sinder the bed of the river becomes again encumbered with rocks, making navigation difficult, at least in the channels our guides made us choose near the left bank.

My own private opinion is, however, that there was a better channel nearer the village which these guides managed for us to avoid.

On the evening of the 28th, we came abreast of the huts of Sinder, and a deputation from the village brought us some provisions. I expressed my intention of going to see the chief, but I was dissuaded from doing so on one pretext or another, and when I insisted I was told — " Well, come if you will, but if you want to please us, you will not come. We know now that you do not intend to do us any harm, but the last white man who passed this way killed a lot of people, and the grief of the mothers and wives of the dead will be renewed if they see you."

Whether this excuse was true or not, it seemed to me a very reasonable one. We had had such an exceedingly narrow escape of a conflict with the Tuaregs, that I was determined to be extremely prudent. I did not see Sinder after all, but I console myself with the thought that at least those who come after us will not suffer from the memory of anything we did, and will not, through our fault, incur any of the dangers we escaped.

Below Sinder the river again became such as to make us almost despair. After having painfully made our way for about a mile, we found some fresh guides waiting for us. Evidently the natives were eager to speed the parting guest ! " I don't know however we shall get through," said Digui ; but we did manage it once more, though the Aube scraped on a rock without doing herself much harm.