1 80 SHELLUH VILLAGE. ch. viii. 



below, but rudely constructed, and the upper portions are 

 sometimes put together with mud and small pieces of 

 stone. There is usually an upper story extending over the 

 whole or part of the ground floor, and the roofs are flat 

 and made tolerably water-tight with mortar or cement. 

 In structure and appearance they reminded Hooker of the 

 village houses of the mountaineers of Bhotan. 



We collected a good many specimens during the after- 

 noon, but were able to add little to the list of species 

 already noted in the valley. The most important business 

 in hand was to bring to book our enemy Kaid el Hasbi — 

 for so we began to consider him — and ascertain clearly 

 whether he did or did not mean to carry out the orders of 

 the Sultan, and convey us to some point within reach of 

 the upper regions of the mountains. When pressed on 

 this point, he distinctly declared that from Keraya — the 

 next adjoining district to the west — we should be able to 

 ' reach the snow ;' and with that assurance we had to satisfy 

 ourselves, and give such orders that the next evening should 

 find us in the desired district. 



The name of the village was differently noted by the 

 members of the party ; Assghin, as it is entered in 

 Hooker's notes, by an observation taken this afternoon, 

 with the thermometer in the shade at 72° Fahr., stands 

 at 3,427 feet (1,044-4 m.) above the sea. Up to this 

 our observations had been reduced on the assumption 

 that the pressure at sea level was exactly 760 milli- 

 metres ; but henceforward we had the advantage of direct 

 comparison with observations recorded twice a day at 

 Mogador. 



The evening was fine, but flashes of lightning were 

 seen to the SE. after dark, and during the night fresh 

 snow fell on the higher ridges, which looked brilliant on 

 the early morning of April 11, but rapidly melted under 

 the mid-day sun. We started rather late, about 8 A.M., 

 and by 10.30 had returned to the site of our former camp 

 in the broad bed of the stream below Achliz. Here our 



