Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Dec.] MARCH RESUMED. 67 CHAPTER III. YAFIR PASS—EHUT TUG—THE RUINS AT KIN'S CITY—ABBAN APPREHENDS FUTURE CONSEQUENCES—HYENAS — THE DUL- BAHANTAS — CAMEL DRIVERS' TRICKS — BRINY WATER — ANTELOPE-SHOOTING—ELEPHANT-HUNTING—OSTRICH-HUNTING—GAZELLES—JEALOUSY AND SUSPICIONS OF THE PEOPLE — TROUBLES FROM FORTY THIEVES — RAPID DECLINE OF PROPERTY. 4th December 1854.—At dawn of day the last of the camels was loaded, and we set out to clamber up to the top of the mountain-range and descend on the other side to the first watering-place in the interior of the country. It was a double march, and a very stiff one for the camels. Directly in our front lay an easy, flattish ground, with moderate undulations, densely wooded with such trees as I had already seen; but beyond it, about three miles from camp, the face of the mountain-top, towering to a great height, stood frowning over us like a huge bluff wall, which at first sight it appeared quite impossible any camel could surmount . At 9 A.m. we reached this steep, and commenced the stiffest and last ascent up a winding, narrow goat-path, having sharp turns at the extremity of every zigzag,and with huge projecting stones, which seemed to bid defiance to the passage of the camels' bodies. Indeed, it was very marvellous, with their long spindle-shanks and great splay feet, and the awkward boxes on their backs striking constantly against every little projection in the hill, that they did not tumble headlong over the pathway; for many times, at the corners, they fell upon their chests, with their hind-legs dangling over the side, and were only pulled into the path again by the combined exertions of all the men. Like Tibet ponies, when they felt their bodies slipping helplessly over the precipices—down which, had they fallen, they would have ...