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On all sides were clusters of the tholukh, which grows prettily up, and has a poetical appearance. The ground at some places was strewed with branches, cut down for the goats to feed on. Then we came to a small wady full of resou, which our marabout calls the "meat of the camel;" and all the camels at once stopped, and for a long time obstinately refused to proceed.
With the berries and a mixture of oil the people prepare their water-skins, as well as tan leather. The valley is strewed with huge branches, cut down for the purpose of extracting resin. The ethel and the batoum are the most interesting of desert-trees, and I shall regret to exchange them for the tholukh.
The tree most frequent is the tholukh; but there is also another common tree, called the arak. In the open country, the wadan, the gazelle, and the ostrich are found, and the people hunt them with dogs. Good water is supplied by wells and streams, in sufficient quantities to irrigate the fields of ghaseb, wheat, and barley.
An agreeable surprise awaited us occasionally, in the shape of little openings containing groups of the tholukh; but the general aspect of the pass was horrible and desolate, and we eagerly pushed on towards the end. There was nothing, apparently, to support life; but we found and caught a young fox: how the little wretch procured food was a mystery which our guides could not explain.
In Wady Aroukeen there are some of the finest tholukhs I have seen, reaching the height of thirty or forty feet. There are, besides, two new species of trees, the adwa of Soudan, called, in Aheer, aborah: they have not been observed before, and are natives of Bornou. Their general aspect resembles the tholukh, but they have large prickles and a smooth roundish leaf.
This portion of the landscape of Aheer, if I may use the term landscape, does not differ materially from the first which we entered. The rocks are all granite, and of one colour. The greater part of the trees are tholukh and souak. The hasheesh consists chiefly of the bou rekabah. In the valley I observe a fine old specimen of the Soudan tree, called, in Bornouese, kărághou.
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