They Were Similar In Appearance, The Usual Wady About 100 Yards Wide, Pearly Sand Lined With Borders Of Leek Green, Pitted With Dry Wells Around Which Lay Heaps Of Withered Thorns And A Herd Of Gazelles Tripping Gracefully Over The Quartz Carpet.

After spanning the valley we began to ascend the lower slopes of a high range, whose folds formed like a curtain the bold background of the view. This is the landward face of the Ghauts, over which we were to pass before sighting the sea.

Masses of cold grey cloud rolled from the table-formed summit, we were presently shrouded in mist, and as we advanced, rain began to fall. The light of day vanishing, we again descended into a Fiumara with a tortuous and rocky bed, the main drain of the landward mountain side. My companions, now half-starved,--they had lived through three days on a handful of dates and sweetmeats,--devoured with avidity the wild Jujube berries that strewed the stones. The guide had preceded us: when we came up with him, he was found seated upon a grassy bank on the edge of the rugged torrent bed. We sprang in pleased astonishment from the saddle, dire had been the anticipations that our mules,--one of them already required driving with the spear,--would, after another night of starvation, leave us to carry their loads upon our own hacks. The cause of the phenomenon soon revealed itself. In the rock was a hole about two feet wide, whence a crystal sheet welled over the Fiumara bank, forming a paradise for frog and tadpole. This "Ga'angal" is considered by the Somal a "fairies' well:" all, however, that the Donkey could inform me was, that when the Nomads settle in the valley, the water sinks deep below the earth--a knot which methinks might be unravelled without the interposition of a god. The same authority declared it to be the work of the "old ancient" Arabs.

The mules fell hungrily upon the succulent grass, and we, with the most frugal of suppers, prepared to pass the rainy night. Presently, however, the doves and Katas [12], the only birds here requiring water, approached in flights, and fearing to drink, fluttered around us with shrill cries. They suggested to my companions the possibility of being visited in sleep by more formidable beasts, and even man: after a short halt, an advance was proposed; and this was an offer which, on principle, I never refused. We remounted our mules, now refreshed and in good spirits, and began to ascend the stony face of the Eastern hill through a thick mist, deepening the darkness. As we reached the bleak summit, a heavy shower gave my companions a pretext to stop: they readily found a deserted thorn fence, in which we passed a wet night. That day we had travelled at least thirty- five miles without seeing the face of man: the country was parched to a cinder for want of water, and all the Nomads had migrated to the plains.

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