THE BAREA TRIBE, 1 35 days, would induce fever. At any rate, none of our party suffered in this way during our last two journeys; and, except when lying out at nights on the watch for game, we always slept under canvas.

The road was at first very bad, and we had sometimes to cut our way through bushes in order to allow the camels to pass. We saw scarcely a bird or a gazelle ; but we met a good many Base, with fifty or sixty donkeys and a few goats, going to the Settite for dk?irra, we were told ; but I am sure that was not the case, as we found afterwards that the Base on the Mareb had no dealings whatever with the people living on the Settite. Some idea of the poverty of the Base may be formed from the fact that these donkeys and goats were the first we had seen since leaving Haikota, with the exception of three or four donkeys I had seen, as we were quitting Aibaro, trudging along in the sandy bed of the Mareb.

The country during the first day's journey was most uninteresting, hilly, and with the usual bush-jungle and occasional large trees, growing in the dry beds of streams that during the rains fed the Mareb ; in one of these were the remains of wells. By nightfall we reached a village, situated on a hill, where we passed the night. It belonged to the Barea tribe. The people were very friendly, and gave us milk and water. There was no water nearer than three or four miles from the village, in the direction of Amedeb ; and it was brought up the hill in goatskins, and carried by the women on their backs. These people paid taxes to the Egyptian Government, and grew a good deal of dhurra. In appearance they much resembled their neighbours the Base, but wore more clothing, and appeared altogether much more prosperous, which speaks well for the government. They have the reputation of being great thieves, and of being very troublesome people to deal with. I think the night we