AN ENDLESS FOREST. 159 on their journey. They told us, that, by stopping there, we could fill up with water the next morning, make a long march, and encamp at sunset ; and that on the following day we should reach the Settite before noon. We thought, however, that by going on a little farther we might reach the river by the following night. We sent all, except the water-camels, on ahead ; and ourselves remained behind, to sec that they took plenty of water. We lost our way in the darkness which overtook us long before we reached the camp ; and we did not get our dinner until after midnight — every one decidedly cross.

A more monotonous journey than the one we made on the following day, I never performed. The country became less and less mountainous, with occasional patches covered with kittar-h\\s\\kts, all, of course, leafless, and great grass-plains.

For miles we travelled through a thick forest of leafless trees covered with thorns, and which we thought would never terminate ; the trees were only twelve or eighteen feet high, and grew so thickly that we could see only a very short distance in front of us. It was more irksome than the most tedious desert, for there there is usually something, some hill, or speck on the horizon, to look forward to arriving at ; but here there was no object to fix one's eyes upon, and to watch the distance gradually lessening. It was, moreover, impossible to say how long we should be in getting through this forest ; there was the merest apology for a path, which we frequently lost for some time, and the hatchets were in constant requisition to fell branches in order to allow the camels to pass.

Sheik Achmed had kept his promise in giving us guides to explore the Mareb ; and we had had no reason to doubt his word, when he had assured us we should visit the country on the Settite, east of Khor Meheteb. We soon found, however, that this time he was deceiving us, and had no idea of our going there.