DR. REITz's JOURNEY TO TAKKA. 801 bava River. This belongs to the Shukorees, against whom the expedition was in part directed. He then crossed the river, and travelled for two or three weeks through a broken mountain country, inhabited by the wandering races of the Hallenges and Hadendoas. The mountains, which were from two to three thousand feet in height, were crested with walls of naked porphyry rock, but their lower slopes were covered with grass and bushes, and peopled by myriads of apes. Between the ranges were many broad and beautiful valleys, some of which were inhabited. Here the vegetable and animal world was far richer than on the Nile. The Consul was obliged to follow the movements of the expedition, and therefore could not trace out any regular plan of exploration. After seeing just enough to whet his curiosity to penetrate further, Moussa Bey returned to Gi-oz Radjeb. His route then followed the course of the Atbara, for a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, to the town of Sofie, on the Abyssinian frontier. The river, which is a clear and beautiful stream, has a narrow border of trees and underwood, and flows in a winding course through a region of low, grassy hills. By using the water for irrigation, the country, which is now entirely uncultivated, might be made T2ry productive. The Shukorees possess immense herds of camels, and a Jiegin, or trained dromedary, which the Consul purchased from them, was one of the strongest and fleetest which I saw in Africa.

Near Sofie the savannas of grass give place to dense tropical forests, with a rank undergrowth which is often impenetrable. Here, in addition to the lion and leopard, which are common to all Soudan, the expedition saw large herds of the elephant and rhinoceros. The woods were filled with birds of