296 
TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA. 
bark was entirely peeled, and their branches, 
brittle as glass, were twisted like cords. Their 
wood was yellowish, like the wood of liquorice, 
and the heart of the trees was filled with a pow- 
der very hard to the touch. Neither the wood, 
nor the enclosed dust, nor the calcined stones, 
had either taste or smell. At some distance, the 
mountains, which were extremely high, seemed 
to be piled above each other in immense ranges, 
from whence enormous blocks appeared to have 
fallen, and to have been shattered to pieces be- 
fore reaching the ground. These detached masses, 
over which other rocks hung suspended, formed 
immense caverns, and covered the valleys. From 
another quarter, two fountains issued, one of 
which drew along in its course a black slimy mat- 
ter of a sulphureous smell. The other, separated 
from the first by a small isthmus of sand, of the 
breadth of 12 or 15 paces, was clearer than crys- 
tal. In a valley, which appeared at first sight 
extremely circumscribed by the surrounding 
mountains, and the detached rocks which were 
heaped up in promiscuous confusion, Brisson dis- 
covered an astonishing variety of scenery. At 
the entrance of the valley, the ground was moist 
and furrowed, as if it had been formerly watered 
by winding rivulets. The borders of these fur^ 
rows were covered with beds of pebbles, and 
crusted over with a nitrous kind of ice* The 
