. From the Niger to the Nile . e by a tall, lonely cotton-tree, which wasclearly defined by its white stem and branches. Occasionallyappeared the dark green blot of the umbrella-shaped tree thatalways marks the gossip-ground of a little village, where theold king sits and calls up the passing wayfarer, bidding himtell the news of the road he has come. The country began to be undulating, and ahead of usto the north-east little hills appeared in the middle-distance,lonely stragglers, growing more frequent as they receded tothe horizon where they joined the blue mass of the KeffiHills. At Griddan
. From the Niger to the Nile . e by a tall, lonely cotton-tree, which wasclearly defined by its white stem and branches. Occasionallyappeared the dark green blot of the umbrella-shaped tree thatalways marks the gossip-ground of a little village, where theold king sits and calls up the passing wayfarer, bidding himtell the news of the road he has come. The country began to be undulating, and ahead of usto the north-east little hills appeared in the middle-distance,lonely stragglers, growing more frequent as they receded tothe horizon where they joined the blue mass of the KeffiHills. At Griddan-Duci, round the foot of the hill, theinhabitants had tilled the soil which was growing rich cropsof guinea corn, and of monkey-nuts which have bright greenleaves, like the trefoil, close to the ground. These fieldsattracted a great deal of bird life, and little flocks of glossy MY JOURNEY FROM LOKO TO DORRORO 189 starlings were to be seen, which, hke our own, hang aboutthe haunts of man with aggressively familiar bearing. The. A FirLANl UX shy thrush and shyer redstart, too, came down to the plotsunder cover of the bush. A pair or two of black-and-whitecrows held points of vantage on tall trees by the hamlet seems to own at least a pair of these birdswhich act as scavengers and are treated as friends by thenatives. In an ornamental way, they rather share dutywith the pigeons, imitating their ways of wooing with comiceffect, for their ungainly bows and scrapes and rattlinglove-notes are a caricature of the more romantic birds. 190 FEOM THE NIGER TO THE NILE On August 5 we arrived at Nassarawa, the trade Centreand capital of the province of that name. It is a large town,peopled with Hausa and Fulani, but it has the gloomyappearance of a place that has seen better timeg, with housesdeserted and dilapidated, and the corners of the streetsthronged with beggars. The great walls, once the pride ofkings which required the labour of thousands of slaves tobuild and keep in
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