The Stream, Or Hor, That Flows Through This Country,
Parallel With Our Route, Is The Ma Serdi; All This District Is
Rich In Copper.
"March 28.--Started at 5 A.M. course S.W. We crossed two hors,
flowing from N.N.W. and joining the Ma Serdi; also a beautiful
running stream of deep and clear water twelve miles from our
bivouac of last evening:
This stream is never dry; it springs
from a range of hills about ten miles distant. The whole of this
country is well watered by mountain streams, the trees are no
longer the thorny mimosas, but as the land is not only fertile,
but sufficiently moist, it gives birth to a different kind of
vegetation, and the trees are mostly free from thorns, although
at this season devoid of foliage. The country is ornamented by
extensive cultivation, and numerous villages. We halted at 5 P.M.
having marched twenty-one miles. The fertile soil of this country
is thoroughly melted by rain during the wet season, and in the
intense heat of the drought it becomes a mass of gaping crevices
many feet deep, that render hunting on horseback most dangerous.
Fortunately, as we halted, I observed a herd of tetel, and three
ostriches: the latter made off immediately, but I succeeded in
stalking the tetel, and shot two, right and left, one of which
escaped, but the other became the prize of my Tokrooris.
"March 29.--Started at 5.30 A.M. and reached the river Salaam at
8 A.M.; the total distance from our camp in Mek Nimmur's country
is thirty-five miles S.W. The Bahr Salaam is precisely similar in
character to the Settite, but smaller; it has scooped through the
rich lands a deep valley, like the latter river, and has
transported the fertile loam to the Atbara, to increase the rich
store of mud which that river delivers to the Nile.
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