Chap. LIV. 
PLAN OF THE OASIS. 
71 
the downs, while a smaller hamlet borders the 
gardens on the south-west side. The plantations are 
very carefully fenced, principally with the bush called 
m agar a, which I have mentioned on former occa- 
sions ; and besides kiika or monkey-bread trees, 
and korna, or nebek, a few date palms contributed 
greatly to enliven the scenery. The monkey-bread 
trees, however, were all of small size, and of re- 
markably slender growth, such as I had not before 
observed, while the public place, or " fage," of the 
smaller village was adorned by a karage tree of so 
rich a growth that it even surpassed, if not in height, 
at least in the exuberance of its foliage, the finest 
trees of this species which I had seen in the Miisgu 
country. 
I began my survey of this interesting locality on 
the south side, following first the narrow path which 
separates the southern village from the plantation, 
and visiting again the principal source, the rich 
volume of which, gushing along between the hedges, 
had already excited my surprise and delight the 
previous day. 
This lower village cannot be very healthy, both on 
account of its exuberant vegetation, and the quantity 
of water in which the neighbourhood abounds; but 
its situation is extremely pleasant to the eye. Keep- 
ing then close along the southern border of the plan- 
tation, I reached the eastern edge of the western lake, 
which is thickly overgrown with papyrus and meles, 
while, in the narrow space left between the plantation 
F 4 
