'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎201] (310/496)

2000 feet, and sees the villages of the Ahl Oor Sungeli dotted along the
sandy sea coast 6500 feet below him.
This magnificent range, so aptly named, and rising in solemn grandeur
about twenty-five miles from the sea, had long been looked at from a
distance by me; and a visit to the Gferad, or chief of the Ahl Oor Sungeli,
in February, 1848, afforded me the opportunity so long coveted of visit
ing them. Between Mahomed Ali Grerad and myself frequent friendly
letters and messages had passed, by means of the boats that touched at
his ports on their way to Aden, and during this, my first, interview with
him, he appeared anxious to get “ his name written in the good books of
the English” as his Mijirtheyn brothers had done. An assurance that I
might go anywhere I pieced over his country, was caught at on my
part with a readiness that appeared rather to alarm him, but seeing that
my tent and travelling kit was already on its way to the shore, he appa
rently thought it useless to argue the matter or magnify the perils of the
road. By the following afternoon we had left the town of Eas Kori,
and, taking a small guard of elders from his own tribe, we bid His Ma
jesty an affectionate farewell, and turned our steps in the direction of the
lofty barrier range of Eyransid.
An hour’s sharp walking took us some distance up the bed of a water
course having a general southerly direction, and the night was passed in
a small clearing under the cliff. At sunrise the march was resumed, and,
passing some three to four miles up the same water-course, in which we
observed several large monkeys and some remarkably fine antelopes, we
crossed a low shoulder covered with gum trees, amongst which we found
the myrrh, and had an opportunity of collecting a small portion of its
gum. It was the same tree as that sent down by me to Bombay some
years ago, and the only one, as I was assured, affording the myrrh of
commerce. Entering the bed of the mountain torrent a second time, we
observed the broad-leafed luban tree (meyeti), the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. and adadi
species of the gum arabic, and large specimens of the harraz, or baabul
tree. The sides of the water-course were regularly-disposed strata of
fine and coarse gravel, interspersed with huge boulders of limestone.
Fragments of porphyry were frequently picked up, and small quantities
of pure white marble. Shortly before nine we reached a pool of water in
the bed of the mountain torrent, which had a decidedly bitter taste, si
milar to that before described at Bheeyeh Grhora. The temperature was
pleasant, not exceeding 81° under a tent at seven a. m. The gene
ral direction of the water-course during this march was north and south.