ed compofed o f petrified wood, fuch as we had feen in i the •
mountains near Cofleir. At a quarter pail eleven, going due
N. we entered a narrow valley, in which-we palled two wells
on our left, and following the windings through this valley,
all o f deep fand, we came to a large? pool o f excellent water,
ealled Umgwat, iheltered from the rays'of the fun by a large
rock w hich projefted over it, the-upper p a r t o f which was
ihaped like a wedge, and was compofed all. o f green , m a rble,
without the fmalleft variety or fpot o f other colour
in it.
T h r o u g h this whole valley, to-day, we had feen the hoodies
o f the Tucorory who had followed Mahomet Towafh,
and been fcattered by. the Biffiareen, and left to perifli with
third: there. None o f them, however, as far as we could
obferve, had ever reached this well. In the.water we-foundi
a bird o f the duck kind called Teal, or Widgeon. The Turk
Ifmael was preparing to fhoot at it with his blunderbufs,
but, I defired him to refrain, being,willing, b y its flight, to’
: endeavour to judge Something of-the nearnefs o f the. Nile.
We raifed it therefore b y fudden repeated criesj whieh method
was like ly to make itfeek its home ftraight, and abandon
a-place it mull have been a ftranger to. The bird flew
flraight weft, riling as he. flew* a fure proof his journey
was i long one, till at M , being.yery high, and at a diftance,
he vanilhed from our fight, without d e fen d in g or feeking
to approach' the earth tfrom which I 'drew] an ujtlpleSfant..
inference that.we. were yet far fronwthc Nile,.as was really,
the calej . \ : ;; ■ ■ . ,.
HrRi we threw away the brackifh water that remained'
tn.our girbas, and..filled, .them .with the. whoiefome element
draw,».
drawn frond this pool of.Umgwat. I could not help reproaching
Idris with the inaccuracy of the information-he
had pretended to give us the day before, that no party a-
bove ten men’ cmild meet us a ta n y b f thefe wells, as none
o f them: could fupgly; water for mo re ; whereas in this pool
there was certainly enough o f excellent water to ferve a
whole tribe o f Arabs for a month. He had little to fay,.
further than that Haimer, though near, was a fcanty well,
and perhaps we fhould not find water there at all.’ He truft-
ed, however, i f our people would take heart, we were out
.o f a ll danger from Arabs, pr any thing elfe-
At a quarter pail three we left the well,' and- continued I
along a fandy valley, which is called Waadi Umgwat. This
night it was told me that Georgis, and the T u r k Ifmael,
were both fo ill, and fo defponding,; that they had refolved
to pUrfue the journey no farther, but fubmit to their d eftiny,,
as they called-ir, and flay behind and die; It was w i th ’ the
utmofl difficulty I could get them to lay afide? this refolu-
tion, and the next morning I promifed they fhould ’ ride
b y turns upon one o f the camels, a thing that none o f
us had yet attempted. They had,..indeed, often defired me
to do fo, but I well knew, i f I had fet them that example, .
.befides deftroying the camels^ i f would-have had ? the very
worft effeit Upon their daftardly fpirits ; and, indeed, we
very foon law the bad effefts of.this humane confideration
fo r the two invalids. .
On- the 24th,-at ha lf'p aft fix in the morning we left
Umgwat, following the windings o f fandy valleys between
{tony hills. At h a lf pail, nifie we found Mahomet Aga;s
htarfe.dead. The..poor creature feemed,-without a-guide,¡iov
h a v e .?