40 Account of Alexander Scott's Captivity 
On the following morning, the old man carried Scotty to the 
spot where the vessel had been wrecked, and there they remain- 
ed for three days. From thence they departed for the south, 
and after two days, during which Scott occasionally rode on a 
camel, he fell in with the Portuguese boy in possession of ano- 
ther Arab tribe, also moving southward. Here the two boys 
attempted to escape from their masters, but were pursued, 
caught, and beaten. They were immediately finally separated ; 
Antonio and his master set off in a SE. direction, and Scott 
was carried, as near as he could judge, due south, travelling 
all the way not far from the sea, sometimes within sight of it, 
and occasionally along the beach. Their route was continued 
for fifteen days more, and the rate of travelling he estimates at 
fifteen miles a day ; every night they rested at the tents of some 
tribe, and were always hospitaJbly received. 
The country they traversed principally consisted of a soft 
sand. A part of the road lay through a valley, watered by a 
salt river, and containing a deep^ thicket or wood, in which 
Scott observed trees resembling firs, and some from which 
whitish gum exuded. This last had sharp spines, the stem 
thicker than a man's body, not very high, growing, as Scott 
expresses it, “ all of a rook This valley is named Wad 
Seyghi, {Wad^ in the language of the country, signifying a 
valley, in which there is running water) *!•. Here Scott saw an 
animal, which he describes as a large beast almost like a cow, 
covered with hair of a grey colour, with large horns, thick at 
the root, and spreading outward, a very short tail, and feet 
like those of sheep. This animal is eaten by the Arabs, who 
call it Row-y-and J." After the seventeen days travelling, they 
came to an encampment of thirty-three tents, in a part of a dis- 
trict, which Scott says is named El Ghiblodi^ and is bounded on 
the west by the sea. Here they remained several months. 
The place of their abode was the highest part of that country ; 
* Rook is a Lancashire term for a heap or close bundle. This tree is perhaps 
an Acacia. 
*)• It is thought by competent judges, that Wad signifies a Valley, with or 
xvithout water, and is certainly employed to denote a valley without running wa- 
ter. 
4 : The Buffalo apparently. 
