sand into the crevices of the rocks, and the camels
drooped their heads before the suffocating wind;
but still the caravan noiselessly crept along over the
rocky undulations, until the stormy sea was passed:
once more we were upon a boundless plain of sand
and pebbles.
Here every now and then we discovered withered
melons (Cucumis colocynthis); the leaves had long
since disappeared, and the shrivelled stalks were
brittle as glass. They proved that even the desert
had a season of life, however short; but the desert
fruits were bitter. So intensely bitter was the dry
white interior of these melons, that it exactly resembled
quinine in taste ; when rubbed between
the fingers, it became a fine white powder. The
Arabs use this medicinally; a small piece placed
in a cup of milk, and allowed to stand for a few
hours, renders the draught a strong aperient. The
sun-r-that relentless persecutor of the desert traveller
—sank behind the western hills, and the long wished
for night arrived; cool, delicious night! the thermometer
78° Fahr. a difference of 36° between the
shade of day.
The guide commanded the caravan,—he was the
desert pilot, and no one dared question his directions;
he ordered a halt for two hours’ rest. This
was the usual stage and halting-place by the side
of a perpendicular rock, the base of which was strewft
thick with camel’s dung; this excellent fuel soon
produced a blazing fire, the coffee began to boil, and
fowls were roasting for a hasty dinner. A short
snatch of sleep upon the sand, and the voice of the
guide again disturbed us. The camels had not been
unloaded, but had lain down to rest with their packs,
and had thus eaten their feed of dhurra (Sorghum,
vulgare) from a mat. In a few minutes we started,
once more the silent and monotonous desert march !
In the cool night I preferred walking to thé
uneasy motion of the camel; the air was most invigorating
after the intense heat of the day, and the
prostration caused by the simoom. The desert had a
charm by night, as the horizon of its nakedness was
limited; the rocks assumed fantastic shapes in the
bright moonlight, and the profound stillness produced
an effect of the supernatural in that wild and mysterious
solitude ; the Arab belief in the genii and
afreet, and all the demon enemies of man, was a
natural consequence of a wandering life in this desert
wilderness, where nature is hostile to all living beings.
In forty-six hours and forty-five minutes’ actual
marching from Korosko we reached Moorâhd, “ the
bitter well.”
This is a mournful spot, well known to the tired
and thirsty camel, the hope of reaching which has
urged him fainting on his weary way to drink one
draught before he dies; this is the camel’s grave.
Situated half way between Korosko and Abou
Hammed, the well of Moorâhd is in an extinct crater,
surrounded upon all sides but one by precipitous cliffs
about 300 feet high. The bottom is a dead flat, and