Of _Rapaces_: Perenopterus and Falco are numerous.
Of _Gallinacea_: Numida meleagris, and various partridges.
Of _Cursorii_: Struthio-camelus and Otis.
Of _Ciconidae_: Ciconia Marabu.
Of _Cantores_: Corvus, Loxia, Sylvia, Vidua.
Of _Mammalia_, three species of Antelope, one of Hyrax, one of Equus
(Onager), one of Sus (Phacochaerus); and fresh holes in the sand
indicated the presence of animals most probably of the order Rodentia.
The sheep of the country are the Hejaz lamb (Ovis aries laticaudata);
white body and black head and neck, covered with hair, and having thick,
short, fat tails; male without horns. The goats and cattle are
generally small in stature, of all colours, and surmounted with very
large horns. The shepherd dogs are small, and spotted with yellow and
white; they have long pointed skulls like the fox.
With regard to the flora of this part of the country, the small quantity
found in flower, belongs, with few exceptions, to the family of the
_Leguminosae_, amongst which the order of _Mimoseae_ is the most
extensive both in species and specimens; they are however all stunted
and shrubby, and seldom attain any size. Still the only fuel and shade
found during the journey was supplied by this tribe. There exist also
several _Capparideae_; Cadaba, Sodada, Capparis. Cadaba rotundifolia is
the most common.
The _Asclepiadeae_ are represented in the Stapelia pulvinata, which
however was seldom found in blossom, and in the Pergularia tomentosa,
with stately flowers and capsules.
The _Malvaceae_ existed in Ruitzia and Abutilon; and the other families
found by the wayside, Moringeae, Rutaceae, Tamariscineae, Chenopodeae,
Amaranthaceae, Cruciferae, presented only solitary specimens.
Of the _Euphorbiaceae_ there were but three; and of the Palm tribe there
only appeared to be two species, the Phoenix dactylifera and Hyphaene
crucifera, both of which gradually disappeared as the soil improved.
Nature has scattered the necessaries of existence with a niggard hand
over these desert plains, and the supply of water is indeed scanty. In
such a hot climate, those pools which are not fed by running streams
soon become adulterated by the decomposition of organic and inorganic
matter. The wacke cannot resist any long exposure, and thence the water
imbibes oxide of iron and muriate of soda, discovered in the pools of
Goongoonteh, Allooli, and Bedi Kuroof; and again the numerous flocks and
cattle of the caravans which are driven into the pools taint and corrupt
the liquid in a still more offensive manner. The fetid smell and taste
of the waters of Duwaylaka, Amadoo, Fialoo, and Killulloo, is indeed so
oppressive as to be subdued only by a considerable quantity of spirit;
and moreover the deposited mud, when stirred up, emits a volume of
sulphuretted hydrogen. During the wet season all the lower parts of the
country are said to be exceedingly unhealthy, violent storms and
incessant rain in the plains and wadies forcing the inhabitants to
retreat to the mountains.