A GREEN DESERT. 23

The desert was carpeted with the most beautiful grass of a

very vivid green ; the dwarf-mimosa bushes, of which there

were plenty, were bursting into leaf ; and the plain was covered

with cattle, goats, and sheep, while numbers of camels wan-

dered from bush to bush, or grazed on the fresh grass, a rare

treat to all animals in these regions.

The cows in these parts often prove very obstinate when

they are wanted to keep quiet in order to be milked. The

natives often resort to the expedient of holding a calf-skin,

which the cow to be milked has previously smelt, at some little

distance from her nose ; then she will keep quiet, and submit

to the process of milking, without any further trouble.

The next day, although we rose at dawn, it was nearly noon

before our camels were loaded, and a fresh start made ; more

rain falling during the process of packing. The camel-sheik,

intent on baksheesh, arrived while we were at breakfast : we

gave him a small present, and promised him the same on our

return, if our camels, and the men in charge of them, proved

satisfactory.

There are three roads between Souakim and Cassala, all

more or less traversed by caravans. The one we took kept close

to the telegraph-wires the whole way, and is the shortest. A

second follows, for the greater part of the way, Khor Baraka,'

and, although considerably longer, is probably more agreeable,

as there is more shade and water by this route. Khor Baraka

runs into the sea a little to the south of Souakim, near Tokar.

The third road follows, almost all the way, a mountain range,

a little to the west of our route. The Arabs said there was

more water on that road than on the one we took ; but it is

rather longer, and very stony, which is trying to the camels

' ICkor signifies a stream or river that only flows during the rainy season, and is quite dried

up during the dry. Bahr means a flowing river that never dries up.