Upon Ascending The Slope Of The
Settite Valley, The Country Is An Immense Plain Of Fertile Soil,
About Two Hundred Feet Above The River.
While on the march, I
espied a camel wandering without an owner; this was inmmediately
secured as a lawful prize by our guide.
This fellow's name is
Mahomet; he is, doubtlessly, an out-and-out scoundrel; he is
about five feet ten inches in height, and as thin as a live man
can be; he is so crafty-looking, and so wiry and eel-like, that
if I were to lock him up I should secure the key-hole, as he
looks capable of squeezing through anything. We slept on the
plain.
"March 20.--Started at 5 A.M., and in three hours we reached the
chain of lofty wooded hills that bound the plain. In a march of
four hours from this point, we arrived at a hor, or ravine, when
we halted beneath a large tamarind tree, and pitched the tent
according to the instructions of our guide. The plain from the
Settite to the base of the hilly range that we had crossed, is
about twenty-two miles wide by forty in length, and, like all the
table-land in this country, it is well adapted for cotton
cultivation. Were the route secure through the Base country,
loaded camels might reach Cassala in six days and from thence to
Souakim. All this country is uninhabited. On arrival at the base
of the first bill, a grove of tamarinds shades a spring, at which
we watered our horses, but the water is impregnated with natron,
which is common throughout this country, and appears in many
places as an efflorescence on the surface of the ground.
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