228 
TRAVELS IN AFKICA. Chap. XXVII. 
have succeeded in finding an outlet, had we not 
met with some shepherds who were tending nume- 
rous flocks of sheep and goats. All was one thorny- 
covert, where kana and birgim, the African plum- 
tree, were, together with mimosa, the predominant 
trees. Near the village, however, which lies in the 
midst of the forest, very fine fields of wheat oc- 
cupied a considerable open space, the corn standing 
now about a foot and a half high, and presented a 
most charming sight, particularly when compared 
with the scanty industry which we had hitherto 
observed in this, the finest part of the country. 
Keeping then close to the narrow path, we reached, 
half an hour before noon, an open place of middle 
size called Mikiba, and halted between the village 
and the well, which, being in a hollow, is only three 
fathoms deep. Being obliged to allow the camels a 
good feed, as they had got nothing the previous even- 
ing, we did not start again till four o'clock in the 
afternoon ; and it was in vain that I endeavoured to 
buy some provisions from the inhabitants with the 
few indifferent articles which I had to offer them : 
the small fancy wares of Nuremberg manufacture 
proved too worthless and frail even for these barba- 
rians. The people, however, endeavoured to frighten 
us by their accounts of the roads before us — and in- 
deed, as it afterwards appeared, they were not quite 
wrong ; but we could not stay a night with people 
so inhospitable, and, besides, I had lost already too 
much time. 
