HOWAKIL. 189 
feet amphitheatre, bounding a plain gradually sloping to the sea. 
The view over this plain from the first ridgeof hills was extremely 
beautiful. The whole appeared like a verdant lawn, spotted, (if 
I may so term it) with mimosas, the depth of which gave a 
brighter lustre to the grass that luxuriantly sprung up under- 
neath, where hundreds of the finest milch goats, with their 
udders distended, wandered at large with their kids. In the 
centre of the plain stood the village, consisting of about forty 
circular huts, constructed with branches of the rack-tree and the 
long-spreading roots of the acacia, neatly covered over with mats. 
Near the beach, to the northward, grew a thick grove of trees, 
beyond which lay the bay, with its numerous islands stretching 
out into the distant horizon. Happy might the natives be 
thought, were these islands always in so flourishing a condition ; 
but unfortunately, the appearance of plenty is but of short dura- 
tion : soon after the rain has ceased the ground becomes parched, 
the supplies of water exhausted, the vegetation burnt up, and 
the goats, for want of food, lean and barren. This state of things 
continues during eight long months ; at the latter period of 
which, if the rains do not set in, which occasionally takes place, 
mortality commences among the cattle^ which soon extending to 
the children and women, makes the whole island exhibit the 
aspect of one scene of desolation ; the men on these occasions 
going on excursions to Mocha, Hodeida, and northward as far 
as Suakin, to escape as much as possible from the misery and 
wretchedness prevailing at home. 
The ascent of the mountain, which is very steep, proved ex- 
tremely advantageous to my views, as it gave me a correct notion 
