444 
MOUNTAIN OF ASSAULI. 
was rendered less unpleasant from the improving beauty of the 
scenery as we advanced, the whole of our track being skirted 
by groves of the most beautifully flowering shrubs and plants, 
broken here and there by jutting masses of rock and green 
plats of turf, that gave to the whole prospect a most delightful 
appearance. About half way up we found a spring of pellucid 
water trickling from the rocks, under which a small bason was 
excavated for the convenience of travellers, and near this spot we 
halted to refresh ourselves during the heat of the day. 
In the afternoon we again proceeded, and in about two hours 
reached the highest summit of the mountain. The contrast 
which the scene before us now presented was very extraordinary ; 
immediately in front lay a verdant plain, on which the natives 
were busily engaged, some in tending their cattle and others in 
gathering in a field of wheat, while beyond an extensive pros- 
pect opened to the view over the burning regions of the Tehama, 
in which might be distinguished, at a distance, the mountain of 
Has Gidam, the Island of Massowa, and the expanded line of 
the surrounding sea. Near this spot stood the tomb of a Sheik, 
equally reverenced by Christians and Mahomedans. On our 
arriving opposite to it, Baharnegash Yasous and his son broke 
some bread, which was presented by one of the Shiho, and with 
a superstitious anxiety solicited us to partake of it ; but the 
reason for this custom I could not ascertain. 
On the top of Assauli I took, with a theodolite, the following 
bearings : Massowa NE. ; Ras Gidam N. 75 E. and Dixan (on a 
computed distance) nearly south. Hence we began to descend 
for about half a mile, until we arrived at a small circular spot^ 
