THE LOSS OF THE " ONE-EYED FIEND." 285 



rocky hill. One when struck was observed to give 

 forth a metallic clink, and not a few, balanced upon 

 points, reminded me of the tradition-bearing rocking 

 stones. At a distance in the forest, the larger masses 

 might be mistaken for Cyclopean walls, towers, steeples, 

 minarets, loggans, dwelling houses, and ruined castles. 

 They are often overgrown with a soft grass, which 

 decaying, forms with the degradation of the granite a 

 thin cap of soil ; their summits are crowned with tufty 

 cactus, a stomatiferous plant which imbibes nourishment 

 from the oxygen of the air; whilst huge creepers, 

 imitating trees, project gnarled trunks from the deeper 

 crevices in their flanks. Seen through the forest these 

 rocks are an effective feature in the landscape, espe- 

 cially when the sunbeams fall warm and bright upon 

 their rounded summits and their smooth sides, here 

 clothed with a mildew-like lichen of the tenderest leek- 

 green, there yellowed like Italian marbles by the burning 

 rays, and there streaked with a shining black as if 

 glazed by the rain, which, collecting in cupfuls upon the 

 steps and slopes, at times overflows, coursing in mimic 

 cataracts down the heights. 



That march was a severe trial ; we had started at dawn, 

 we did not, however, arrive at the Mabunguru Fiumara 

 before noon, and our people straggled in about evening- 

 tide. All our bullet* moulds, and three boxes of ammu- 

 nition, were lost. Said bin Salim, the Jemadar, and 

 - three other men had followed in the rear, driving on the 

 " One-Eyed Fiend," which, after many a prank, lay down 

 upon the ground, and positively declined to move. The 

 escort, disliking the sun, abandoned it at once to its fate, 

 and want of provisions, and the inordinate length of 

 the marches, rendered a halt or a return for the valuable 



