136 HATEETAH STATE OF THE WEATHER. 
have gone to Aroukeen, where they will wait for us 
six days, and then leave us ; that is, if we do not 
come up. They will be twelve days, they say, on 
their journey. We go by .a different route to 
Ghat, and shall see but not enter Serdalous. This 
place is now thickly inhabited by Tuaricks, and 
Hateetah does not wish to come in contact with 
them, for fear of exciting their curiosity and cu- 
pidity. So he is a knowing old dog after all. Our 
Tuaricks are displeased that the Germans have 
encamped so far from us this evening. The ground 
is a narrow slip of wady stretching east and west, 
almost on a level with the plateau. There is a 
little hasheesh (grass), with two or three young 
tholukh-trees. Venus shone with uncommon 
splendour this evening, eclipsing all the majesty 
of Jupiter. We are looking out for the Southern 
Cross, and think we see it just emerging above the 
horizon ahead. In the day, the heavens have of 
late been hazy. 
They tell us, tiiat on leaving Ghat we shall 
descend to Soudan ; yet we cannot have reached 
very high ground. We may soon likewise expect 
to feel the influence of the Soudan rains, and find 
the atmosphere much cooler in consequence. How 
the days are shortening now, and how grateful 
darkness gradually expands its dominions over this 
arid, scorching waste, as we move south ! 
On Friday the 5th we only advanced two hours, 
to a place called Talazaghee, — a small picturesque 
