They, as well as ourselves, thought the town was near, and they went with the intention of getting in before us. We felt exceedingly uneasy respecting them, as they might so easily lose themselves in such intricate travelling. We halted in low spirits, and, after a little refreshment, went to sleep with heavy hearts. Wednesday, July 3.—Strong breeze in the night. Our trunks and bedclothes were all covered with sand in the morning. We heard nothing of our servants, and consoled ourselves that they had found some place before now. We commenced our journey early. The hills of wadey Shiati were seen stretching east and west, and the date palms in several groves; but between us and them some high sand hills were seen. We wished our old guide to take us a more direct course, as we conceived; but, notwithstanding our desire and even threats, he persevered in having his way; and, to do the old man justice, we afterwards found it would have been almost impossible for the camels to have gone the way we wished. After passing the base of some high sand hills, we came to a stony pass, of gentle descent, covered with loose fragments of quartz rock, a yellowish feltspar, and iron ore, very similar to the rocks in the Sebah district. From this place the town opened to our view. It is erected on a hill about three hundred feet high. This stands in the middle of the valley nearly, and has the appearance, at a distance, of a hill studded over with basaltic columns. I had no idea the town was built on the hill, and, consequently, that the deception was produced by it. The approach from this side is over large plains of salt, and through fields of gomah and date groves. The different divisions of the fields did not appear to us so neat as near other towns; but that may be owing to the grain having mostly been cut and all in. There is no necessity here for wells, as there are a number of springs near the surface that open into large basins, from which channels are cut to the different fields. Temperature of the water 30 cent.; but the basins are so exposed, and so large, that the temperature of the water is influenced by the soil and sun’s rays. The soil is dark, and mixed with a large quantity of salt. In the salt plain here there are a number of small conical hills, the base composed of pipeclay, above that of a fine grained yellow sandstone, and the top a conglomerate, the principal ingredient of which is ironstone.