SHILLIKEE. 
471 
assemblage of miserable huts, among which are two stone houses 
with walled yards, belonging to the Nayib : before that in which 
we resided was a verandah covered with mats. 
" We passed out to the southward through gardens, which are 
cultivated with a degree of care unusual in this country. Immedi- 
ately beyond lies a burying-ground, and to the right a village, 
where most of the Ascari reside. In passing along the plain, which 
is upwards of a mile in breadth, reckoning from the sea to the nearest 
rising ground^, I had an opportunity of observing that the bottom 
of the bay forms a considerable bight. About a mile and a half 
from Arkeko are six wells, near twenty feet deep, and above fif- 
teen in diameter. It is from these that the town receives its scanty 
supply of fresh water. By the evening the wells are so nearly 
drained, that the water, as it rises in the middle of each, is taken 
up with a flat vessel like a skimming-dish ; it is then put into skins, 
and brought up a broken ascent by men, women, and children in 
a state of perfect nudity. The name of these wells is Illerbehey, 
Bruce's first stage. Having watered the mules and camels, we pro- 
ceeded on our way, in the course of which, we saw several red deer 
exceedingly tame, and some small wolves, that bore a near resem- 
blance to the large paria dog of India. We passed another village, 
beyond which tw^o large flocks of goats were feeding ; and observed 
that all the villages, and gardens, were carefully fenced round with 
large branches of the thorny Aeacia. By the time that we had 
quitted the plain, it became too dark to make any observations, 
except such as were forced upon us by the ruggedness of the road. 
We arrived at length at the rising ground, called by Bruce, Shillo* 
keeb, but pronounced by the natives Shillikee, where we slept 
