356 RETURN MARCH TO LADO.

which rose in front of us ike a watch-tower. Beneath a cliff, radiating from it, we saw the blackened ruins of the village of Vari. It was already I P.M., and we had as yet not found a drop of water; the guides appeared to be in an uncertain state of mind, and asserted that no water could be reached before sunset. We were therefore all the more pleased when we met a Negro in the midst of the wood, whose sister we had restored to him at Ayak, and who offered to act as our guide. And thus, at 3 P.M., after a hot and dry march, we reached the village of Mizani, which hes at the foot of the densely wooded Jebel U1.

We were now once more in the Kederu country. Our course thus far had been southerly, but we now turned to the east, in order to reach our old road. Our night’s march was repeatedly disturbed by elephants, but early in the morning we reached the bed of Khor Arita, which is possibly identical with Khor Arise. For about ten minutes we marched along its bed, which abounded in pools of whitish water. Another burnt village lay in front of us, beneath Jebel Nyangali—it had been “ visited” by Danagla! Jebel Waru is a mass of granite rising boldly above the red sandy soil to a height of four hundred feet. Its flanks are densely wooded, and, to judge by the numerous deep, narrow fissures, across which we were frequently obliged to jump, it must yield an abundant supply of water. Khor Labikko was already known to us as a tributary of the Ito, and was at present quite dry.

The village of Mollo is situated near this “Aor, in the midst of corn-fields, I noticed there many trees hung with skulls and horns. Unfortunately these trophies were obtained only from dwarf antelopes and beasts of prey, which appear to abound in the vicinity. From a lofty pole in the centre of the village the skin of a python fluttered in the wind. The numerous graves round the village could be recognised by pyramids formed of slabs of rocks or by huge heaps of stones, from the centre of which rose a pole, with three notches in its upper extremity, which was shaped exactly like those which are seen on the ancient Mohammedan tombstones in Southern Arabia. I saw occasionally a third form of grave enclosed 1 Such is not the case.—E. G. R.