LEBKA r ALLEY. 113 



south. The dip at Ain is low, 20° or 30° to the 

 west. 



There were not many birds here which we had not 

 obtaiiied at Ailat, Tockus nasutus and Crateropns leu- 

 cocephalus being the only important additions ; but we 

 were told that a herd of oryx (0. Beisa) inhabited the 

 plain to the eastwards. Of all the antelopes of Africa 

 none is, perhaps, so remarkable as the oryx, and I longed 

 to see one. But, although we found fresh tracks, we 

 could not meet with the animals themselves. 



On the 7th we marched up the Lebka valley to 

 Mohabar, a distance of about twenty miles. The ascent 

 is very gradual, and the valley does not contract as in 

 the Komayli pass. As a rule the road is very easy along 

 the broad sandy bed of the Lebka, which early in July 

 was quite dry, the rains in the higher part of the vaUey 

 having scarcely commenced. In one or two places the 

 ravine becomes narrower, with steep sides ; one of these 

 places is known as Aualid Oret (" the Daughters of 

 Hades"), but its appearance is less formidable than its 

 name. The bed of the stream is rocky, but our loaded 

 camels got over without much difficulty. 



We encamped in the bed of the stream. The next 

 morning we found that a large lion had walked past our 

 camp and down the stream during the night. We took 

 up his tracks, but unsuccessfully. The day before a lion, 

 probably the same, had killed a cow and then, a man 

 close to Mohabar. 



The sandy ravine bed was fringed here with fine 

 tamarisk trees, which abounded in hawks and falcons. 



1 



