246 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XLV. 
The country preserved the same aspect as we pro- 
ceeded onwards; and the hamlets which we passed were 
not of a more inviting appearance than the first. 
Only now and then an isolated deleb-palm, or kame- 
liitUj raised its magnificent tuft into the air, and 
served, by the contrast it afforded, to make this spot 
appear more gloomy. A large piece of ground was 
entirely covered with aghul (Hedysarus alhajji) which 
seemed to me not a little remarkable, as I did not 
remember to have seen this plant, which is so much 
liked by the camel, since I had left Taganama. 
The country assumed more and more the appear- 
ance of a swamp at present dry ; and we were even 
obliged to change our direction frequently, in order 
to avoid spots where the bog had not dried up, while 
everywhere we observed the same kind of small 
ridges which I have mentioned before. Further on, 
the ground became a little drier, but presented only a 
monotonous waste, with detached bunches of rank 
grass, overshadowed now and then by scanty and 
stunted karage trees scarcely fifteen feet high, while 
we had been accustomed, in the Miisgu country, to 
see this kind of tree assume the size of the most 
magnificent specimens of the vegetable kingdom, 
with an elevation of from seventy to eighty feet, and 
a crown of not less diameter. As far as the eye 
could reach, the character of the country presented- 
the same poor appearance ; but, as I have mentioned 
before, the sky was not very clear, and the view was 
therefore rather limited. The bush of the fan-palm 
