Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/93

Rh and as beautiful as the first; but the night here was exceedingly cold, though the sun had been hot in the day-time. Our desire for water was, by this time, considerably abated. We were everywhere surrounded by mountains, bleak, bare, black, and covered with loose stones, entirely destitute of soil; and, besides this gloomy prospect, we saw nothing but the heavens.

the 19th, at half past six in the morning, we left Sadoon, our road still winding between mountains in the bed, or torrent of a river, bordered on each side with rack and sycamore trees of a good size. I thought them equal to the largest trees I had ever seen; but upon considering, and roughly measuring some of them, I did not find one 7½ feet diameter; a small tree in comparison of those that some travellers have observed, and much smaller than I expected; for here every cause concurred that should make the growth of these large bodies excessive.

half past eight o'clock, we encamped at a place called Tubbo, where the mountains are very steep, and broken, very abruptly, into cliffs and precipices. Tubbo was by much the most agreeable station we had seen; the trees were thick, full of leaves, and gave us abundance of very dark shade. There was a number of many different kinds so closely planted that they seemed to be intended for natural arbours. Every tree was full of birds, variegated with an infinity of colours, but destitute of song; others, of a more homely and more European appearance, diverted us with a variety of wild notes, in a stile of music still distinct and peculiar to Africa; as different in the composition from our linnet and goldfinch, as our English language is to that