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tains became faintly visible far away southwards. 

 In hush of the evening we heard a frequent mur- 

 mur of waters which meant shallows on the river, 

 if not rapids. An oribi or two formed a welcome 

 addition to the larder. We passed several villages 

 on either side of the path, all looking fairly pros- 

 perous, surrounded as they were by their green 

 patches of cultivation. We pitched our camp 

 near one of these in a beautiful spot, where a fine 

 khor fringed with tropical vegetation flows along 

 the bottom of a wide meadow-like clearing, 

 covered with short succulent grass and adorned 

 with handsome colossal fig-trees, tamarinds, and 

 duleil palms. Close beside the village, which 

 nestles among the crags, there is a rocky ridge. 

 Bananas are scarce here ; evidently the soil 

 does not suit them. Tobacco, however, simsim, 

 and even a little cotton are grown. A fat old 

 man, named Kursi, is the paramount chief of this 

 district, and he almost fell over himself in his 

 frantic endeavours to show us hospitality. 



One of our marches was remarkable for an 

 awkward though ludicrous contretemps. The 

 march had not been a long one, nor was there 

 much water on the road, so I expected the 

 porters to arrive very shortly after I did. When 

 we had been some time at the halting-place with- 

 out their putting in an appearance, I began to 

 wonder what had happened. At last a man 

 arrived with his box on his head, and on being 



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