386 NUMEROUS SAND SPOUTS. 



we were all three walking back to the Hy 

 Soumaulee, some of whom came to meet us, to 

 inquire from whence our new friend had sprung. 

 It seemed he belonged to the Wahama tribe, but 

 from some cause or other was obliged to be very 

 select in his lodgings, probably from having had a 

 recent quarrel, which would have insured his 

 death, had he been discovered by his enemy asleep. 



At Mettah, the narrow plain we had travelled 

 along spread out into an open level country, 

 which appeared bounded by an extensive sea, 

 so perfectly delusive was the appearance of the 

 distant mirage, in which small eminences, here and 

 there appearing, looked like islets standing amidst 

 the waters. Large sand pillars, their bases hidden 

 in the mirage, rising like spirits from the vasty 

 deep, until their tall summits were lost in the blue 

 sky, moved steadily across, acted upon by some 

 stronger current of air, and added one more 

 circumstance to strengthen the delusion, by 

 reminding the travelled spectator, of the water- 

 spouts he has witnessed at sea. After all my 

 experience I persisted in believing that there must 

 be water before me, especially as it lay in the 

 situation of a lake, Murroo, I had heard Lieut. 

 Barker speak of, but Ohmed Medina very quietly 

 referred me, to the stream and its course in an 

 opposite direction, to corroborate his statement of 

 its being " a great lie." 



My mule breaking loose, in consequence of 



