514 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



are covered with wood. We now no longer faw any cora 

 fown : The people here were at the fame miferable employ- 

 ment as thofe we had feen before, that of gathering grafs- 

 feeds ; yet, though ftarving, they brought us plenty of 

 milk in exchange for tobacco, a commodity very much in 

 requeft in thefe parts,. At half paft ten we arrived at Gi- 

 did ; the houfes were built of clay, with terralTed roofs : on 

 our way we palTed through feveral little cantonments of 

 Nuba. All this country is fand, interfperfed with thick cop- 

 pices and acacia-trees that feemed not to thrive. On the o- 

 ther fide are large, dead, fandy plains, but both fides of the 

 river are covered with wood. The ferry over the Nile is 

 here from the well to the eaft. The country about Gidid, 

 efpecially to the weftward, is very bare and barren, and 

 fcarcely produces any tiling faving grafs and bent, of which 

 the poor people ufe the feed for bread. This is the cafe all 

 to the w^ftward of El-aice ; and the country here, for want 

 of rain, is faft dwindling into a defert, and the foil is chan- 

 ged to fand. There is no corn, though, from the vicinity 

 of two large rivers, it produces grafs enough for cattle, 

 flieep, and goats, and there is as yet plenty of milk : but as 

 foon as the fun Ihines conftantly, no herbage will remain 

 that can be food for any other cattle but goats, and at laft 

 the whole becomes a perfedt defert, capable of nourifliing 

 aiothing but antelopes and ollriches. 



On the 21ft, at feven in the morning "we left Gidid, and 

 near three miles further we came to the paflage, and def- 

 <:endcd a long way with the current before we landed. The 

 manner they pafs the camels at this ferry is by faflcning 

 £ords under their hind quarters, and then tying a halter to 

 their heads. Two men fuitain thefe^ cords, and a third the 



lialterj 



