on an extra holi on account
of the cold wind; and yet the temperature was not very low, it being
only 46 deg. at sunrise. The wind evidently comes over an immense extent of
plain towards the east, perhaps some forty or fifty days' journey. We
made six hours and a-half.

_2d._--We started early, and moved at first to the beat of the drum.
Already yesterday we had seen symptoms that the desert was drawing to a
close. To-day we fairly got out of it, and entered upon a wilderness of
small trees. The vegetation has not, however, yet improved in proportion
to our nearness to Soudan; for this dwarf forest of tholukh and various
other trees cannot be compared to the splendid desert vegetation in the
Aheer valleys; these are pigmy mimosas in comparison with those of
Aheer. The surface of the ground is now undulating sand and red earth,
and every trace of stone has almost disappeared; the soil is also
covered with karengia and other herbs, all dry and sapless. We seem to
be traversing a limitless stubble-field, covered over or sprinkled with
small trees. Few animals enliven the scene; a crow here and there struts
or flies. All the small birds seem to have sought covert from the cold.
The same north-east wind as yesterday blows with remorseless strength.

I observed great numbers of ant-hills, and very large ones, too. Some of
the paths from these hills are straighter than the roads made by man
over the Sahara. So, also, the birds in Aheer, and on this route, build
better houses for themselves than men do. We halted amidst karengia, and
had great difficulty in finding a place clear of them. En-Noor suffers
dreadfully from the cold, and we help to keep him alive by our coffee,
which he drinks shivering, and then admits to have given him renovated
heat and strength. This coffee keeps the old fellow in a good humour,
and he is extremely civil to us.

_3d._--We started early, and made four hours and a-half, when we stopped
at the village Inasamet, or Unwessemet. The weather is still the same,
and the route continues to wind through a scattered wilderness of small
trees, amongst which Overweg thought he had discovered a species of wild
orange.

We now see signs of approaching habitations, such as flocks of sheep
straying, and droves of oxen feeding begin to appear. There seems to be
a great number of birds of prey hereabouts. I counted at least thirty
vultures, who watched the passing of the caravan, in hopes to see a
camel fall an