THE WILD ASS 
1025 
Thanks to the level ground we were travelling over, 
and to the grass, though this was somewhat scanty it is 
true, the caravan animals still held out capitally, although 
we had already lost several of the donkeys. 
September ist. At first our road lay across a low 
level ridge, with a hard surface, which would have been 
first-rate for the animals, had it not been that it was 
honeycombed like a rabbit-warren by a small rodent 
[tcshikan). We saw some of the creatures bobbing into 
their holes with a little squeak ; but the holes caused 
the horses to stumble incessantly. 
SUNSET AT CAMP NO. XV'. 
On my map I distinguished the high, dominating peaks 
which overlooked our line of march from both sides by 
letters of the alphabet, and determined their position by 
a series of bearings taken from various points. 1 o-day 
right underneath one of these peaks the green ^ slates 
came to an abrupt termination. Then for some distance 
the surface was strewn with pieces of tuff, about two 
cubic feet big, of the same kind as that we met with 
before ; the ground between was barren. In the distance 
we frequently saw herds of five or six yitrgheh (antelopes) 
—an animal with a long, narrow, lyre-shaped horn, and 
