LOVELY SCENEEY. 
00 
in our course^ and on to which the strong current violently en- 
deavoured to propel us^ we gained the main stream^ that in its 
wild and lovely beauty vied with the beautiful Chor we had left. 
The vegetation looked its best; but, on the other hand, the low 
murmuring sound of the deep and broad current, as it swept past 
innumerable bold and forbidding bare granite rocks, that started 
in all manner of grotesque forms to some fifty feet above its sur- 
face, sometimes rushing impetuously past, and then courting their 
vicinity in large and treacherous whirlpools, that seemed loth to 
leave them, inspired awe and loathing for the dangerous locality. 
In parts more calm, rich groves of mimosa in full leaf, and now 
and then in bloom, stood out of the water with apparently no more 
solid footing to support them, whilst, peeping through the branches, 
sharp points of rocks seemed to steal a look, and dare our compa- 
ratively frail boaks approach. Another few hours of hard rowing 
to keep way on the boat, and make her feel the helm to steer us 
clear of danger, brought us to an awkward rocky ridge, hardly 
deserving the name of cataract, called Tarfaya. A quarter-of-a- 
mile-broad ridge of granite crossed the bed of the river, and al- 
though the fall was but trifling, the vraters roared and lashed with 
anger, as they leapt over or passed between the immovable impe- 
diments, 
A mile beyond is the village of the same name, and there we 
made fast for the night. It is on the east bank, but separated from 
the river by so extensive a grove of date-palms as to merit the name 
of a forest. Behind this village are extensive fields, that, with the 
aid of the Sakyeh, are made to produce Indian corn, cotton, to- 
bacco, onions, and wheat. 
August 315 ^. — A storm of wind from the north prevented us 
