Here, The Ground Was Overgrown With
Aloes [7], Sometimes Six Feet High With Pink And "Pale Pomona Green"
Leaves, Bending
In the line of beauty towards the ground, graceful in form
as the capitals of Corinthian columns, and crowned with
Gay-coloured
bells, but barbarously supplied with woody thorns and strong serrated
edges. There the Hig, an aloetic plant with a point so hard and sharp that
horses cannot cross ground where it grows, stood in bunches like the
largest and stiffest of rushes. [8] Senna sprang spontaneously on the
banks, and the gigantic Ushr or Asclepias shed its bloom upon the stones
and pebbles of the bed. My attendants occupied themselves with gathering
the edible pod of an Acacia called Kura [9], whilst I observed the view.
Frequent ant-hills gave an appearance of habitation to a desert still
covered with the mosques and tombs of old Adel; and the shape of the
country had gradually changed, basins and broad slopes now replacing the
thickly crowded conoid peaks of the lower regions.
As the sun sank towards the west, Long Guled complained bitterly of the
raw breeze from the hills. We passed many villages, distinguished by the
barking of dogs and the bleating of flocks, on their way to the field: the
unhappy Raghe, however, who had now become our _protege_, would neither
venture into a settlement, nor bivouac amongst the lions. He hurried us
forwards till we arrived at a hollow called Gud, "the Hole," which
supplied us with the protection of a deserted kraal, where our camels,
half-starved and knocked-up by an eight miles' march, were speedily
unloaded.
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