LEAVE DAFARRE. 113 



knees, whilst a heavy one for my feet to press 

 against without fear of removing it, sustained me 

 on the gentle slope of the floor of the cave. Thus 

 I arranged myself for sleep, and slept well; and 

 after some hours' indulging in a confidence not 

 often extended to the companions of my march 

 who lay around, Zaido appeared to summon me to 

 my hut for the night. Giving him my boots to 

 carry, I collected my pistols, and followed him bare- 

 footed up the long unequal steps of huge stones 

 that led from the cave to the summit of the steep 

 precipitous side of the ravine. Having reached my 

 " bait," a large bowl of boiled rice, quite enough 

 for the supper of a camel, was served up, mixed 

 with nearly half-a-pint of ghee, or the liquid butter 

 of the country. 



March 4cth. — We again started at the usual hour, 

 sunrise, and marched fi\e hours and a half across 

 the most tremendously rough country that can pos- 

 sibly be conceived, to be at all passable. Immedi- 

 ately after starting, we descended a narrow road, 

 more like a steep staircase than anything else. It 

 was not quite so convenient, but reminded me of 

 the one by which we ascend the Monument, which 

 is about as high as was this precipice. One by one, 

 the camels slowly descended into a wide fissurelike 

 valley, that extended to a ' similar wall of rock on 

 the opposite side, and up which we had to ascend 

 again. This fissured plain opened upon the crystal- 

 line shores of the Bahr Assal, or Salt Lake, of which 



VOL. I. I 



