On Our Way We Passed Lines Of Donkeys
And Camels Carrying Water-Skins From The Town; They Were Under Guard Like
Ourselves, And The Sturdy Dames That Drove Them Indulged In Many A Loud
Joke At Our Expense.
After walking about four miles we arrived at what is
called the Takhushshah--the sandy bed of a torrent nearly a mile broad
[19], covered with a thin coat of caked mud:
In the centre is a line of
pits from three to four feet deep, with turbid water at the bottom. Around
them were several frame-works of four upright sticks connected by
horizontal bars, and on these were stretched goats'-skins, forming the
cattle-trough of the Somali country. About the wells stood troops of
camels, whose Eesa proprietors scowled fiercely at us, and stalked over
the plain with their long, heavy spears: for protection against these
people, the citizens have erected a kind of round tower, with a ladder for
a staircase. Near it are some large tamarisks and the wild henna of the
Somali country, which supplies a sweet-smelling flower, but is valueless
as a dye. A thick hedge of thorn-trees surrounds the only cultivated
ground near Zayla: as Ibn Said declared in old times, "the people have no
gardens, and know nothing of fruits." The variety and the luxuriance of
growth, however, prove that industry is the sole desideratum. I remarked
the castor-plant,--no one knows its name or nature [20],--the Rayhan or
Basil, the Kadi, a species of aloe, whose strongly scented flowers the
Arabs of Yemen are fond of wearing in their turbans.
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