THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 83 
bly fhort and fmall; inftead of the wool they have hair, 
as all the fheep within the tropics have, but this is remark- 
able for its luitre and foftnefs, without any briftly quality, 
fuch as thofe in Beja, or the country of Sennaar ; but they 
are neither fo fat, nor is their flefh fo good, as that of the 
fheep in the warmer country. The goats here, too, are of 
the largeit fize ; but they are not very rough, nor is their 
hair long. | 
Tue plain on the top of the mountain Taranta was, in 
many places, fown with wheat, which was then ready to be 
cut down, though the harveit was not yet begun. The 
grain was clean, and of a good colour, but inferior in fize 
to that of Egypt. It did not, however, grow thick, nor was 
the ftalk above fourteen inches high. The water is very 
bad on the top of Taranta, being only what remains 
of the rain in the hollows of the rocks, and in pits prepared 
for it. 
Beinc very tired, we pitched our tent on the top of the 
mountain. The night was remarkably cold, at leaft ap- 
peared fo to us, whofe pores were opened by the exceffive 
heat of Mafuah ; for at mid-day the thermometer ftood 61°, 
and at fixin the evening 59°; the barometer, at the fame 
time, 18: inches French. The dew began to fall ftrongly, 
and fo continued till an hour after fun-fet, though the 
dky was perfectly clear, and the fmalleft flars difcernible. 
I xintEp a large eagle here this evening, about fix feet 
ten inches from wing to wing. It feemed very tame till 
fhot. The ‘ball. having ‘wounded it but flightly, when on 
the ground it could not be prevented from attacking the 
L 2 men 
