152 DISMAL COUNTRY TNASAMET. 
of Aheer. The surface of the ground is now undu- 
lating sand and red earth, and every trace of stone 
has almost disappeared : the soil is also covered 
with karengia and other herbs, all dry and sapless. 
We seem to be traversing a limitless stubble-field, 
covered over or sprinkled with small trees. Few 
animals enliven the scene ; a crow here and there 
struts or flies. All the small birds seem to have 
sought covert from the cold. The same north-east 
wind as yesterday blows with remorseless strength. 
I observed great numbers of ant-hills, and very 
large ones, too. Some of the paths from these hills 
are straighter than the roads made by man over the 
Sahara. So, also, the birds in Aheer, and on this 
route, build better houses for themselves than men 
do. We halted amidst karengia, and had great dif- 
ficulty in finding a place clear of them. En-Koor 
suffers dreadfully from the cold, and we help to 
keep him alive by our coffee, which he drinks 
shivering, and then admits to have given him reno- 
vated heat and strength. This coffee keeps the old 
fellow in a good humour, and he is extremely civil 
to us. 
3d. — We started early, and made four hours 
and a-half, when we stopped at the village Ina- 
samet,1 or Unwessemet. The weather is still the 
same, and the route continues to wind through a 
scattered wilderness of small trees, amongst which 
Overweg thought he had discovered a species of 
wild orange. 
