Our Path, Moreover, Was Not Clear, As The Guide, Worn
Out By Fatigue, Tottered On Far In The Rear.
About midnight we heard--delightful sound!--the murmur of the distant sea.
Revived by the music, we pushed on more cheerily.
At last the Donkey
preceded us, and about 3 A.M. we found, in a Fiumara, some holes which
supplied us with bitter water, truly delicious after fifteen hours of
thirst. Repeated draughts of the element, which the late rains had
rendered potable, relieved our pain, and hard by we found a place where
coarse stubbly grass saved our mules from starvation. Then rain coming on,
we coiled ourselves under the saddle cloths, and, reckless alike of Ayyal
Ahmed and Ayyal Shirdon, slept like the dead.
At dawn on the 30th January, I arose and inspected the site of Bulhar. It
was then deserted, a huge heap of bleached bones being the only object
suggestive of a settlement. This, at different times, has been a thriving
place, owing to its roadstead, and the feuds of Berberah: it was generally
a village of Gurgis, with some stone-houses built by Arabs. The coast,
however, is open and havenless, and the Shimal wind, feared even at the
Great Port, here rages with resistless violence. Yet the place revives
when plundering parties render the plain unsafe: the timid merchants here
embark their goods and persons, whilst their camels are marched round the
bay.
Mounting at 6 A.M. we started slowly along the sea coast, and frequently
halted on the bushy Fiumara-cut plain.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 358 of 479
Words from 95609 to 95869
of 128411
