Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/166

 rain for two days, the young chief kept them constantly on the march for twelve hours each day. Their road lay in nearly a westerly direction, over barren and rugged hills, where they met with occasionally a small village or encampment of the natives, who, out of respect to Alli Manda, treated the party, in general, with civility, though the provisions which they supplied were scanty, and by no means of the best quality.

"On the 13th, in the afternoon, after having travelled nearly fifty miles, they reached a station on the edge of an extensive salt-plain, where they stopped to refresh themselves under the shade of some acacias, near some wells of fresh-water. At this place they were provided by the natives with a sort of sandals, made of the leaves of a dwarf species of palm, which are invariably used by travellers for crossing the salt. The plain above-mentioned lies perfectly flat, in a north-east and south-west direction, and is said to be four days journey in extent. The first half mile, from not being firmly crusted, was slippery and dangerous to pass, the feet sinking every step into the mud, as is usual in crossing a salt-marsh. After this, the surface became strongly crusted, hard and crystallised, resembling in appearance a rough coarse sheet of ice, which has been covered with snow, thawed and frozen again. Branches of pure salt, resembling pieces of madrepore, occasionally rose above the surface; and two small hills stood in the centre of the plain, which bore a very remarkable appearance from their singularly insulated situation. "This plain took Mr. Coffin and his party about five hours to cross, when they reached the country of the Assa Durwa, which the Ras humorously terms his barbarian territory. On this side of the plain a number of Abyssinians were seen engaged in cutting out the salt, which they accomplish by means of a small adze, and the form of the pieces is similar to that of the whetstone used by our mowers in England. The salt lies in horizontal strata, so that when the edges are once divided, it separates without any great difficulty in flakes: that, immediately under the surface, is exceedingly hard, white, compact and pure; but as the workmen advance deeper, it becomes of a coarser quality, and of a much softer