26th October 1810 for Brazil, but was wrecked on 23d November at 3 o'clock in the morning, on the African coast, somewhere between Capes Noon and Bojador. In the course of the first day, the crew who had reached the shore, were visited by two persons (one of whom was a Negro,) belonging to the Arab tribe of Tobórlet. They had with them a camel. Scott, the cook, and a Portuguese boy, named Antonio, were desired by Captain Knubley to accompany those men to their habitations. The natives finding that Antonio had a knife and some copper-coin, took his knife, and cut away the pocket containing the money; in consequence of which, the Portuguese refused to go farther, and returned to the coast. Scott and the Cook proceeded chiefly on foot, but occasionally riding on the camel (after their fears at its appearance had subsided,) for eight or nine hours, when they arrived at a valley called Zérrohah, on the sides of which about 100 small tents were scattered. These tents were low, and formed of a coarse mat-like stuff, manufactured by the Arabs, of the hair of goats and camels, intermixed with wool. There might be about six or seven persons inhabiting each hut; their complexions were very brown; both men and women were bony and slender. Scott and his companion were consigned by their guides to the care of some

women.

Next day the Captain and the rest of the crew arrived; but on the following day Scott was carried by the same two men who had been his guides, to other tents about two miles off. He remained altogether about three weeks at those two places; during which period all the people were scattered about, but Scott and Antonio remained together. They had skins to sleep on, and a thick porridge of barley-meal for food. Scott had remarked, that two pigs, saved from the wreck, had been killed by the Arabs; but their flesh was either left on the beach or thrown into the sea.

The Arabs now began to break up their tents, and sold Scott to an old man, named Sidi El Hartoni, who had with him three camels. He carried Scott away, and they fell in on the evening of the same day with another Arab, who had purchased the remainder of the crew, with the exception of the captain, a passenger, and two seamen.

On the following morning, the old man carried Scott to the spot where the vessel had been wrecked, and there they remained for three days. From thence they departed for the south, and after two days, during which Scott occasionally rode on a camel, he fell in with the Portuguese boy in possession of another Arab tribe, also moving southward. Here the two boys attempted to escape from their masters, but were pursued, caught, and beaten. They were immediately finally separated; Antonio and his master set off in a SE. direction, and Scott was carried, as near as he could judge, due south, travelling all the way not far from the sea, sometimes within sight of it, and occasionally along the beach. Their route was continued for fifteen days more, and the rate of travelling he estimates at fifteen miles a day; every night they rested at the tents of some tribe, and were always hospitably received.

The country they traversed principally consisted of a soft sand. A part of the road lay through a valley, watered by a salt river, and containing a deep thicket or wood, in which Scott observed trees resembling firs, and some from which whitish gum exuded. This last had sharp spines, the stem thicker than a man's body, not very high, growing, as Scott expresses it," all of a rook." This valley is named Wad Seyghi, (Wad, in the language of the country, signifying a valley, in which there is running water) †. Here Scott saw an animal, which he describes as "a large beast almost like a cow, covered with hair of a grey colour, with large horns, thick at the root, and spreading outward, a very short tail, and feet like those of sheep. This animal is eaten by the Arabs, who call it Row-y-ând ‡." After the seventeen days travelling, they came to an encampment of thirty-three tents, in a part of a district, which Scott says is named El Ghiblah, and is bounded on the west by the sea. Here they remained several months. The place of their abode was the highest part of that country;

• Rook is a Lancashire terin for a heap or close bundle. This tree is perhaps an Acacia.

It is thought by competent judges, that Wad signifies a Valley, with or without water, and is certainly employed to denote a valley without running wa

ter.

The Buffalo apparently.

its soil is principally rocky; its distance Scott computes at upwards of 200 miles southward of the place where he was sold to Sidi Hartoni, and he supposes it to be about twenty miles from the ocean, the roar of which he occasionally heard when the wind blew from the west. He also remarked a circumstance which inclined him to think the coast not far distant. The water of the wells at the beach was much fresher than that of the place of encampment, and the Arabs, who were often sent to fetch it from the coast, usually left home in the morning, and returned on the evening of the following day.

In this district Scott saw "plenty of wild-fowl, occasionally foxes, wolves, deer, or animals like deer, with a red back, white belly, tapering black horns, with prominent rings, and tips bent forward, eyes black and large. Some of these animals have straight horns :-it is called El Mochae *."

Scott remained at El Ghiblah for some months, but about the month of June (as he supposes, from his recollection of the length of the day and the heat of the weather,) he was told! that "the tribe would go a long journey to Hez el Hezsh, and that he must go with them, and there change his religion, or die."

The old man, his master, his three sons and three daughters, with many others of the tribe, composed a caravan of twenty families.

The party mustered between 500 and 600 camels, of which fifty-seven were the property of Sidi El Hartoni. Each family was provided with a tent, which, with provisions, water, and all their effects, were carried by the male camels, while the young camels, and those that gave milk, had no load whatThe number of sheep belonging to the caravan was above 1000, and their goats were nearly as many. They had only five horses, which during the journey were chiefly employed in chasing ostriches, the feathers of which were carefully

ever.

On shewing Scott the plates in Shaw's Zoology, he immediately pointed to the following animals as those which he had met with in the African Desert and its confines, while he described the peculiarities of each with considerable accu-racy: Antilope oryx, or Egyptian antelope; A. gazella, A. cervicapra, or common antelope; A, euchore, or spring antelope.

preserved, and the flesh eaten. They carried with them two jack-asses, and many dogs, chiefly of the greyhound and bloodhound breed, with which the people killed hares, foxes, and wolves; and on the flesh of all these this tribe occasionally fed. When travelling, the sheep and goats of each family were kept in separate droves. The animals go close together, except where they meet with some vegetation, when they spread, but are easily brought together by the whistling of their driver, or by the sound of his horn. The latter is the most usual method, and soon collects the flocks around the driver, an effect supposed to arise from their apprehension of wild beasts, which drives them to the protection of their keeper. It is said, that they can distinguish by the smell the approach of a wolf at the distance of half a mile.

The tents were pitched every night, and the camels and flocks belonging to the family were disposed in front of the family tent, near which fires were kindled for cooking. Should there be any apprehension of an attack during the night, all the tents are pitched in a circular encampment called Douâr, within which all the cattle are driven, and the men lie among the camels, which immediately rise up on the first alarm.

The sheep and goats are very different from those of England, being much larger, with longer legs, and are much accustomed to travelling. When they have sufficient food, they will keep up with the camels on a journey, and they can occasionally run as fast as a greyhound.

The camels can go long without food or drink; they browse on the scanty herbage of the desert, where they find it, and drink as much at once as will serve them a long time. Scott never saw or heard that this animal ever swallowed charcoal, and thinks, that had this substance ever been its food, he must have observed it, as he has often seen the camels reduced to great extremity for want of herbage.

For the first four or five days, the route of the caravan lay over hand clayey ground, very barren, producing only wild bushes, but not a blade of grass. They then came to a sandy district called El-e-Buscharah, consisting of hills and valleys of sand, having water only at a deep well about ten miles southwards of the place where they entered on it. From this well

the camels were loaded with water. The Arabs told Scott that this well had been made by Christians, who once possessed this country, until expelled by the Moors or the Arabs.

In this sandy district they saw no beasts, except a few deer in the valleys. Scott describes these deer as of a nankeen colour, with black stripes along their sides, near the belly; the nose, eyes, and tongue black; the male had small straight horns without branches, the females none; their legs were long and slender; they were so fleet that the greyhound scould not catch them; their size was inferior to that of an English sheep *.

The only vegetation of this country was small bushes, and a low tree, called by the Arabs El Myrreh. The tallest of them is about three yards high, it has a red broad branch like a palm, and running roots like liquorice, about as thick as the finger, and sweet as sugar; the roots are called Ferrada by the people, and eaten both by them and the cattle. The cattle were fond of this root as food, and it was reckoned good for them.

There were here some birds, and the eggs of various wildfowl were found in the sand, among which Scott particularly mentions one by the name of Wild Peacock +.

For eleven days their route lay through this sandy district, and then they entered upon a more firm sort of soil, which sometimes presented a hilly surface, and occasionally extensive plains of hard clay, sprinkled over with some bushes, but without any other vegetation. The hills sometimes shewed rocky sides, on which "dry mosses" grew. This sort of country continued for about two months, during which they went through several valleys containing small streams of water, so brackish that it could not be drank; and they passed by some mines of salt, and brimstone. The former appeared like white rocks in some valleys, and the latter looked like white and yellow rocks. Scott knew the salt by its taste; and having broken off a piece of the brimstone, he found it to be very bitter, and

This is evidently an Antelope, and probably a new species. It has some affinity to the Antilope oryx.

+ Perhaps a bustard.

+ Lichens.