132 OUR HALTING-PLACE. 



who died near this spot, from the wound he received 

 at Gunguntur. 



We were four hours marching before we reached 

 Allulee, where it was designed we should halt ; and 

 here I certainly was surprised to find several broad 

 sheets of water, clear and sweet, in which grew a 

 great quantity of bright green excellent grass. 

 Considerable numbers of the doom palm-tree fanned 

 the air with their large leaves, and widely-spreading 

 umbrella-like mimosa-trees afforded a grateful 

 shade. The ravine here widened into a hilly 

 but open country, a mile or so in diameter, and we 

 seemed to have come to a place where there was 

 room enough to breathe, and to feel happy in our 

 escape from the narrow confines of the ravine we 

 had just passed. Several of the rocks were en- 

 crusted with a saline deposit from the atmosphere, 

 and a promise of an abundance of game was held out 

 by the quantity of antelopes that resorted here for 

 the sake of water. The salt, also, I expect, was 

 no little inducement, as in common with most 

 herbivorous animals, they are exceedingly fond of 

 it. A little slope of gravelly soil, rising from the 

 edge of one of the ponds, and resting upon a steep 

 lava-bank in the rear, was the spot chosen for our 

 encampment ; and my quarters being arranged as 

 usual, I gladly retreated into it, to prepare, by a good 

 night's rest, for the following day's hunting which 

 I had promised myself, as Ohmed Mahomed had 

 told me, we should take advantage of this favourable 



