8 FROM LADO TO DUFILE.

thousand small cascades and rapids through the deeply hollowed

bed. On the east bank the hills gradually rise to beauti- fully wooded mountains, one chain of which forms Jebel Arju, and follows the river to a point near Dufilé. Terraces covered with cultivated patches of green durra, sesame and lubia, and here and there a few huts upon the flanks of the hills, offer agreeable resting-places for the eye.

Upon the west bank, on which we were travelling, hills interchange with park land, with yellowish-white sand patches, and with chaotic masses of beautiful red and yellow striped porphyry. ‘Tall, sturdy trees provide shade, and wooded islands adorn the river. The grotesque forms of Hwphorbia candela- brum stand out upon the naked rocks, now with short trunks splitting up into a semicircular entanglement of leafless branches, then with high pillar-like trunks bearing only at the summit

a few candelabra. Solanum coagulans, and Calotropis procera, with their small yellow balloon-like fruits, containing silken filaments, become more abundant from this point. Khor Ayu, now very low on account of the drought, flows down between blocks of metamorphic schists, and the small station situated

upon it afforded us a temporary halting-place. It is surrounded on all sides by mountains, and was erected to guard the passage.

The river valley becomes narrower and narrower. ‘Towards the south it seems to be shut in by the majestic Jebel Meto; along the river mighty Dol¢éb palms (Borassus flabelliformis) rock their feathery tips in the soft breeze. The scattered boulders become more numerous; a group of high tamarinds marks the place where the path suddenly deviates from the river to lead over the hilly heights (rising up to 2000 feet) of the widening valley, and the way for the most part winds upon their summits. ‘Thorny acacias, sharp-edged grasses, and rocky rubble, characterise this section of the road. Two deeply cut ravines, having a steep descent and a still steeper ascent, were passed ; far and wide no drop of water was to be found! Another vigorous march through high grass, and before us ran Khor-et-Tin, a dirty stream overgrown with reeds, and polluted by elephants, but still drinkable, upon the banks of which we took up our quarters for the night. Rolling thunder and the snorting and trumpeting of numerous elephants,