182 RAMBLES IN THE DESERT 



birds were shot, I could not positively identify the species 

 except in one or two cases. 



Following a nearly due north course, we found the 

 country more freely sprinkled with trees than that part of 

 it passed over during the first stages of our journey, and 

 these sometimes were clustered together in woods or groves 

 from a few score yards to a mile or two in width. It 

 was always difficult to pass through these belts of trees, 

 they were so thickly under-scrubbed. Sometimes we 

 passed through patches of scrub composed of a kind of 

 cane or tough reed, with an almost arborial growth, and 

 rising from a dense mass of herbage eight feet high. 

 This and the tree-belts proved such an impediment, that 

 on the 3rd May we did not advance more than ten miles 

 in as many hours. It was as much as a man could do to 

 force his way through this scrub, and the pack-horses could 

 not pass until an opening had been cut for them. This 

 work entailed on us severe labour, and much loss of time. 



On the morning of the 4th May the country appeared 

 to be a flat plain on all sides of us, with scattered trees, 

 small groves, and patches of dense scrub. Looking due 

 north the horizon appeared as a nearly level line ; towards 

 the east it was also flat, with a solitary peak at a great 

 distance. This hill was probably several hundred feet 

 high, and was a very prominent object in so flat a country. 

 Behind us, to the south-west, a line of hills with low cliffs 

 near the tops could be seen. These we had passed near 

 to four days previously, and their apparent distance 

 seemed to indicate that we had not advanced so rapidly 

 as we had thought ; but hills of moderate height are visible 

 a very great way on these level plains. 



