158 
SADAKLOO. 
side, by a track of much the same difficulty ; but it gradually 
opened to our view a luxuriant valley, which lay at the foot of 
the hills, rich in cultivation, and traversed by the Bambek; a 
noble river, winding its fertilising way to the north-east, while 
in that course, it is augmented by the united waters of the 
Tabate and Ktzia. This vale, so eminent in rural beauties, 
stretches east and west, and every where displays the bounties 
of the full and tranquil Bambek. The banks of the river are 
verdant with pastures, and shaded with trees ; and the several 
villages, which stand amidst its abundant fields, present to the 
eye the fairest proofs of prosperity and comfort. In the middle 
of the plain, nearly ten wersts from its entrance, some striking 
remains still exist, of what must have been a very strong fortress. 
After crossing the bed of a dry river, we reached the large and 
populous village of Sadakloo, on the western shore of the Bam¬ 
bek. The inhabitants were employed separating their barley from 
its straw; and this they effected by means of a sort of wooden 
sledge, to which were yoked a couple of oxen. Its lower surface 
was armed with sharp projecting stones, set closely in rows. 
A man stood on its upper surface, guiding the oxen, as they 
drew the machine hither and thither over the heaps of the 
unseparated grain. A woman attended, furnished with a long 
wooden shovel, throwing the sheaves under the sledge, as it 
moved round. 
Our road led to the south-west, which now gradually carried 
us away from the margin of this beautiful river. At about three 
wersts from it, we left the vale, and beginning to climb again, 
lost sight of the Bambek. Our path across the first height, in 
this new ascent, was narrow and closely wooded; and employed 
us nearly the whole of the remainder of the day, in surmounting 
