On finding he could get nothing further from me gratis,
he demanded that a cloth should be paid to the man
whom my camel-drivers had robbed of the goat at
Adhai, and, before retiring, wished me urgently to take
a letter for him to Aden, petitioning the 'FWIiaL to
allow him to form an expedition by sea, and take retribution
on the Musa Abokr at Heis, who had recently
killed one of his subjects.
CHAPTER III.
YAFIR PASS— RHUT TUG— THE RUINS AT KIN’S CITY— ABBAN
APPREHENDS FUTURE CONSEQUENCES— HYENAS— THE DUL-
BAHANTAS — CAMEL DRIVERS’ .TRICKS — BRINY WATER —
ANTELOPE-SHOOTING— ELEPHANT-HUNTING— OSTRICH-HUNTING—
GAZELLES—JEALOUSY AND SUSPICIONS OF THE PEOPLE
— TROUBLES FROM FORTY THIEVES — RAPID DECLINE OF
PROPERTY.
4th December 1854.—At dawn of day the last of the
camels was loaded, and we set out to clamber up to the
top of the mountain-range and descend on the other
side to the first watering-place in the interior of the
country. I t was a double march, and a very stiff pne
for the camels. Directly in our front lay an easy,
flattish ground, with moderate undulations, densely
wooded with such trees as I had already seen; but
beyond it, about three miles from camp, the face of the
mountain-top, towering to a great height, stood frowning
over us like a huge bluff wall, which at first sight
it appeared quite impossible any camel could surmount.
At 9 A.M. we reached this steep, and commenced the
stiffest and last ascent up a winding, narrow goat-path,
having sharp turns at the extremity of every zigzag,