TUAISEA. 283 Paslia, but it recovered and was in capital condition when I saw it. Abou Bey also gave lis two large water-skins, wbicli when filled are a load for a camel; they are far better than the small sheepskins generally carried, being made of ox-hide. He also presented us with some curios, among them a fly-fan, made of the hairs of a giraffe's tail; it proved very useful, for with the exception of Suakim, I was never in a place which swarmed with so many myriads of insects of all sizes and descriptions.

The direct road from Shaka to the north passes through Tuaisha. The bones of the unhappy beings who had been dragged from their homes, and had either been killed by their cruel masters or succumbed to the fatigues and privations of the march, were scattered in all directions. "We left Tuaisha just before sunset, and marched for some hours.

The moonlight shining on the long, thin, white thorns of the acacias, and on the spare, dry grass, which in some parts covers the ground, almost transformed the sandy desert into an enchanted land.

The ghostly shadows of the antelopes, who darted noiselessly across our path, and the shrill cries of the startled birds, added to the weirdness of the scene, and created so unearthly an impression, that when the night wind rustled amongst the trees we could easily have imagined that the spirits who had formerly dwelt in the skeletons strewn around us