This was a still further proof that water was nigh.

But surest of all, on the top of a tall _cameel-doorn_ tree, he next observed the brilliant plumage of a parrot.
"Now," muttered he to himself, "I must be very near to some spring or pool." He rode cheerfully forward: and after a little while arrived upon the crest of an elevated ridge.

Here he halted to observe the flight of the birds.

Presently he noticed a covey of partridges flying in a westerly direction, and shortly after, another covey going the same way.

Both appeared to alight near a gigantic tree that grew in the plain about five hundred yards from the bottom of the cliffs.