444 PAY TRIBUTE AT THE MOUTH OF THE PASS. 
volcanic bombs, single and stuck together, varying from 
one incli to three in diameter. Those that had become 
detached lay like round-shot on the expanse of the 
desert. We next marched, for four hours, across the 
Bahr Belama, descending to a pass called El Bab, 
where we dined, and then travelled all night between 
bare abrupt hills, which, as we advanced, broke up 
into cones, looking like huge redoubts and batteries. 
The footing in these valleys is of level sand. On 
arriving at the pass our cavalcade was halted by the 
Sheikh in command, and his men immediately com- 
menced to rattle and beat the bones of some dead 
camels that lay on the spot ; the men also screeched 
and shouted, making a great noise. The cause of this 
demonstration, we found, was, that we had there to 
pay a certain footing or tribute, and this being agreed 
to, we advanced. Frij tells me that the same custom 
exists on board of an Arab vessel when she is leaving 
the port for the first time ; the new hands amongst 
the crew are obliged to contribute money, to be ex- 
pended in a jollification. In ten hours, over firm 
sand, we reached Oogab Ghowab', where there is a 
sandstone shelter-rock written upon by foreigners. 
It protected us during the heat of the day. An 
effendi (secretary) had dug a well, and surrounded it 
by a wall, but there was no water. There was, how- 
ever, some vegetation, giving us an idea that water 
was not very distant or very deep : the wild senna 
was growing, and some withered bushes of another 
plant blew about in balls with the wind. With two 
rests on the way, we reached Korosko from Oogab 
Ghowab' after sixteen hours' travelling. In a few 
places there were slabs of sandstone, and as we neared 
