Kasambára is regarded as the chief town in Bághena, and is often the
residence of the chief of the Welád Mebárek.
1st day. Lombo-tendi, a rather long day. Lombo-tendi is the name of a
well, and a ksar or village of clay huts, inhabited by Rumá, or Ermá
(see Vol. IV. p. 431). Besides Lombo-tendi, there are two other ksúr in
Bághena inhabited by this remarkable set of mulattoes, both of them
called Barasáfa, the one situated at no great distance S.E. from Lombo-
tendi, the other lying near Bisága, to the N.E. These three villages
together form the group called in Bághena “Ksúr e’ Rúmme.”
2nd. Tamára, a tank or dhaye.
3rd. Agámmu, a well and tank.
4th. Bú-Lawán, a well.
5th. Nʿama, a pretty ksar, or small town, built about fifty years ago by
a grandson of Múláy Ismʿaáíl, in consequence of a civil war which had
broken out amongst the Shurfa residing in Waláta. The village is
inhabited by Shurfa, Méhajíb, and by Ídélebó. The houses are built of
clay and stone; the west side of the village is skirted by a valley
which contains some hundreds of palm-trees, and where some tobacco is
grown. Nʿama is situated at the foot of the hilly chain which encircles
the whole of El Hódh, or the basin. You arrive early in the morning.
8th. Waláta.
S.—_From Kasambára to Jawára, from the information of Sídi Áhmed el
Mazúki el Bágheni._
1st day. Encamp in the wilderness, having rested two or three hours in
Bisága.
2nd. Retánne, a group of shallow wells, or hasián. You pass the heat in
Benón, at present a ksar inhabited by Aswánek, but evidently identical
with the place of encampment of the chief of the Ludamar (Welád ʿOmár,
pronounced Ámmer), where Mungo Park suffered so much. Another road leads
from Bisága to Benón, by a place called Dúnu.
3rd. Jawára, called by the Fúlbe, or Fullán, Jára Melle, once the
capital of the empire of Melle, at present deserted; during the latter
period of its existence inhabited by Rúmme (Rumá), and Gurmábe.
Jawára is distant one and a half day N.N.E. from Jebéga, and two days
from Samakéde, passing one night in Melléri, a ksar inhabited by the
Welád Dábo (the name given by the Arabs to one section of the Aswánek,
or Wákoró), and passing the heat in a place called Arjóga. It is after
this town, Jawára, or Jaura, that the Fúlbe call the Swánínki, or Sébe,
as they style themselves (the noblest section of the Aswánek), by the
name of Jaura-n-kóbe.
At a short distance from Melléri, S., lies the ksar Jemjúmmu, and W. of
it, Sára.