After One Day's Halt At Mukur To Refresh The Camels, On The 6th December
Lieutenant Speke Started At About 10 A.M. Across The Last Spur Of The
Hills, And Presently Entered A Depression Dividing The Hills From The
Plateau.
Here the country was stony and white-coloured, with watercourses
full of rounded stones.
The Jujube and Acacias were here observed to be on
a large scale, especially in the lowest ground. After five miles the
traveller halted at a shallow watercourse, and at about half a mile
distant found sweet but dirty water in a deep hole in the rock. The name
of this station was Karrah.
_8th December_.--Early in the morning the caravan moved on to Rhat, a
distance of eight miles: it arrived at about noon. The road lay through
the depression at the foot of the hills. In the patches of heather
Florikan was found. The Jujube-tree was very large. In the rains this
country is a grassy belt, running from west to east, along a deep and
narrow watercourse, called Rhat Tug, or the Fiumara of Rhat, which flows
eastward towards the ocean. At this season, having been "eaten up," the
land was almost entirely deserted; the Kraals lay desolate, the herdsmen
had driven off their cows to the hills, and the horses had been sent
towards the Mijjarthayn country. A few camels and donkeys were seen:
considering that their breeding is left to chance, the blood is not
contemptible. The sheep and goats are small, and their coats, as usual in
these hot countries, remain short.
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