274 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER We were followed the day after by a. regular fleet of canoes. A nephew of the chief of Sinder, named Boso, accompanied us. I now felt that, at least until we came into actual contact with Amadu Cheiku, all danger from the hostility of the natives was at an end.

The islands dotting the river are inhabited by Kurteyes and Wagobs, and it is to the latter tribe that the inhabitants of Sinder belong, not to the Songhay race. Their name clearly indicates that they are Soninkes, and therefore related to our Saracolais coolies. Saracolais, Marka, Dafins, etc., are really all mere local names of the Soninkes. It seems at first surprising that a race supposed to be native to the districts watered by the Senegal, should be found so far away from the basin of that river ; but later still, nearer to Say, we came upon another tribe of the same origin, the Sillabes, on the subject of which there cannot