8 FROM LADO TO DUFILE. 



thousand small cascades and rapids through the deeply hollowed 

 bed. On the east bank the hills gradually rise to beauti- 

 fully wooded mountains, one chain of which forms Jebel Arju, 

 and follows the river to a point near Dufile. Terraces covered 

 with cultivated patches of green durra, sesame and lubia, and 

 here and there a few huts upon the flanks of the hills, offer 

 agreeable resting-places for the eye. 



Upon the west bank, on which we were travelling, hills 

 interchange with park land, with yellowish-white sand patches, 

 and with chaotic masses of beautiful red and yellow striped 

 porphyry. Tall, sturdy trees provide shade, and wooded islands 

 adorn the river. The grotesque forms of Euphorbia candela- 

 brum stand out upon the naked rocks, now with short trunks 

 splitting up into a semicircular entanglement of leafless branches, 

 then with high pillar-like trunks bearing only at the summit 

 a few candelabra. Solarium coagulans, and Calotropis procera, 

 with their small yellow balloon-like fruits, containing silken 

 filaments, become more abundant from this point. Khor Ayu, 

 now very low on account of the drought, flows down between 

 blocks of metamorphic schists, and the small station situated 

 upon it afforded us a temporary halting-place. It is surrounded 

 on all sides by mountains, and was erected to guard the passage. 



The river valley becomes narrower and narrower. Towards 

 the south it seems to be shut in by the majestic Jebel Meto ; 

 along the river mighty Doleb palms (Borassus flabelliformis) 

 rock their feathery tips in the soft breeze. The scattered 

 boulders become more numerous ; a group of high tamarinds 

 marks the place where the path suddenly deviates from the 

 river to lead over the hilly heights (rising up to 2000 feet) of 

 the widening valley, and the way for the most part winds upon 

 their summits. Thorny acacias, sharp-edged grasses, and rocky 

 rubble, characterise this section of the road. Two deeply cut 

 ravines, having a steep descent and a still steeper ascent, were 

 passed ; far and wide no drop of water was to be found ! 

 Another vigorous march through high grass, and before us 

 ran Khor-et-Tin, a dirty stream overgrown with reeds, and 

 polluted by elephants, but still drinkable, upon the banks of 

 which we took up our quarters for the night. Rolling thunder 

 and the snorting and trumpeting of numerous elephants, 



