THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 



^£fe-= 



CHAP. VIII. 



*the Author fets out from Kenne — Croffes the Defer t of the Thebaid — Vh* 

 fits the Marble Mountains — Arrives at Cofeir, on the Red Sea-—° 

 'Tranfaftions there. 



IT was Thurfday, the 16th of February '1769, we heard the 

 caravan was ready to fet out from Kenne, the Csene Empo- 

 rium of antiquity. From Kenne our road was firft Eaft, for 

 half an hour, to the foot of the hills, which here bound the 

 cultivated land ; then S. E. when, at 1 1 o'clock in the fore- 

 noon, we palled a very dirty fmall village called Sheraffao 

 All the way from Kenne, clofe on our left, were defert hills, 

 on which not the leaft verdure grew, but a few plants of a 

 large fpecies of Solanum, called BurrumbuC. 



At half pall two we came to a well, called Bir Ambar, the 

 well of fpices, and a dirty village of the fame name, belong- 

 ing to the Azaizy, a poor inconfiderable tribe of Arabs. 

 They live by letting out their cattle for hire to the caravans 

 that go to CofTeir, and attending themfelves, when neceflary. 

 It got its name, I fuppofe, -from its having formerly been a 

 ilation of the caravans from the Red Sea, loaded with this 

 kind of merchandife from India. The houfes of the Azaizy 

 are of a very particular conftruction, if they can be called 



Vol. L Y - houfes. 



