TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA. 
as alabaster, appeared towering above each other, 
and seemed to mark the border of a bank. Lofty 
date trees, whose trunks were warped even to the 
top, rose behind the pyramids, with palm trees, 
the height and colour of which exhibited proofs 
of their high antiquity. Others of these were 
thrown down, and lay stripped of the bark ; they 
crumbled to pieces upon being touched ; and the 
filaments under the bark were covered with a saltish 
powder clear as crystal. The roots which hung 
down the rocks were glutinous, and the bark broke 
off at the slightest touch. Advancing nearer Ma- 
rocco, they found lofty mountains covered with 
stones of rose, violet, citron, and green colours \ 
and observed forests at a distance, On their ap- 
proach they were astonished to see the trunks of 
trees descending from the centres of rocks, and 
apparently hanging down, like fruits, while the roe- 
bucks coursed, one after another, over the hanging 
rocks, and the trees that hung suspended in the 
air. Brisson remarks, that no trees in these forests 
are injured by lightning except one, the leaf of which 
resembles that of the gum tree, or common parsley. 
Before reaching Guadnum, they arrived at the ha- 
bitations of the tribe Telkoennes, who reside among 
mountains of sand, as if they endeavoured to hide 
themselves from the light of the sun. It is al- 
most impossible to penetrate their retreats, unless a 
person be acquainted with the passes of the sand- 
