336 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



quence : rain in abundance, at certain feafons, ftill falls 

 there. It is covered with young plants of rack tree, whofe 

 property it is, as I have already faid, to vegetate in fait wa- 

 ter. The old trees had been cut down, but there was a 

 confiderable number of Saiel, or Acacia trees, and of thefe 

 we were in want. 



Although Zimmer is laid to be without water, yet there 

 are antelopes upon it, as alfo hyaenas in number, and it is 

 therefore probable that there is water in fome fubterrane- 

 ous caves or clefts of the rocks, unknown to the Arabs or 

 fimermen, without which thefe animals could not fubfift. 

 It is probable the antelopes were brought over from Arabia 

 for the Sherriffe's pleafure, or thofe of his friends, if they 

 did not fwim from the main, and an enemy afterwards 

 brought the hyaena to difappoint that amufement.. Be that 

 as it will, though I did not myfelf fee the animals, yet I 

 obferved the dung of each of them upon the fand, and in 

 the citterns ; fo the facl does not reft wholly upon the ve- 

 racity of the boatman. We found at Zimmer plenty of the 

 large fhell fifh called Bitter and Surrumbac, but no other. 

 I found Zimmer, by an obfervation of the fun at noon, to 

 be in lat. i6° f North, and from it we obferved the follow- 

 ing bearings and diftances. 



