O ROUTE TO TIMBUCTOO.

which bk)ws ivom the west-north-west. To alleviate the great drought which travellers feel in the desert, they have recourse to melted butter. ° After passing this desert of twenty days, they enter a country which varies in its appearance, particular spots being fertile (called El Wah). Here they meet wdth sederah **, a kind of wild myrtle, in great quantities. This plant is called by the natives, gylan : its height is about that of a man ; the camels feed upon it. Between these shrubs there is a very small quantity of grass in particular spots. In this part of the desert they meet with extensive strata of stones: though the surface is generally sand, yet at the depth of eight or ten inches, they meet with a yellow or reddish earth ; and about four ieei deeper, with another kind of earth of various colours, but most commonly of a broAvnish cast; about five or six feet under this they find water, which springs up very sjowly, and at the bottom tion of this extraordinary wind, see Jackson*s Account of the Empire of Marocco, &c. &c. 2d or 3d edition, page 283 and 284.

° This is old butter kept several years in a matamoi'e, or subterraneous cavern. It is called by the Arabs of the desert, bUdra ; and much virtue is ascribed to it when it has attained a certain age : a small quantity swallowed, quickly diffuses itself through the system.

P El Wah. For a full explanation of this terra, see Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, 3d edition, p. 283.

Sederah, thorny shrubs of all kinds are so called.