Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/158

 a kid was killed, and a large quantity of fresh milk was brought and presented in straw baskets made of the leaves of the doom-tree, seared over with wax, a manufacture in which the natives on these islands particularly excel. On expressing a desire to retire to rest, a new mat was brought to lay upon my couch, and a quantity of Arabian silk was placed by the Sheik with his own hands, to form my pillow. On the 27th, at day-break, I went on an excursion up the mountains for the purpose of taking a general view and bearings of the islands in the bay. These mountains are picturesque in their aspect, are covered with brush-wood, and constitute a perfect amphitheatre, bounding a plain gradually sloping to the sea. The view over this plain from the first ridge of hills was extremely beautiful. The whole appeared like a verdant lawn, spotted, (if I may so term it) with mimosas, the depth of which gave a brighter lustre to the grass that luxuriantly sprung up underneath, where hundreds of the finest milch goats, with their udders distended, wandered at large with their kids. In the centre of the plain stood the village, consisting of about forty circular huts, constructed with branches of the rack-tree and the long-spreading roots of the acacia, neatly covered over with mats. Near the beach, to the northward, grew a thick grove of trees, beyond which lay the bay, with its numerous islands stretching out into the distant horizon. Happy might the natives be thought, were these islands always in so flourishing a condition; but unfortunately, the appearance of plenty is but of short duration. Soon after the rain has ceased the ground becomes parched, the supplies of water exhausted, the vegetation burnt up, and the goats, for want of food, lean and barren. This state of things continues during eight long months; at the latter period of which, if the rains do not set in, which occasionally takes place, mortality commences among the cattle, which soon extending to the children and women, makes the whole island exhibit the aspect of one scene of desolation; the men on these occasions going on excursions to Mocha, Hodeida, and northward as far as Suakin, to escape as much as possible from the misery and wretchedness prevailing at home.