the same time grateful to the feelings; and one may here dream
delightfully of undisturbed tranquillity and independence, and of
freedom from all the cares, the follies, and the vices of the world.
Whenever the wind is cool, without being too strong, the purity of
the air is at once refreshing and exhilarating; and, if his stock of
water be not very low, the traveller feels «disposed to be well pleased
with every thing *.
Such was precisely the feeling with which our party entered upon
the tract of sandy desert before them. We were glad to escape from
the continual din and bustle which had attended our preparations at
Tripoly; and the very absence of harassing workmen and tradesmen
was alone a source of real satisfaction: the coolness of the sea-breeze
was unusually refreshing, at least, we persuaded ourselves that it
was so; and the anticipation of an interesting journey was acting
very strongly upon our minds.
After quitting the cultivated grounds of Tagiura, the traveller is
left to pursue his course (in going eastward) as his experience or his
compass may direct—there being no indication whatever of any track
in the sands of the wide plain before him. As our principal object,
in this part of our journey, was to obtain a correct delineation of the
coast, we pursued our route along the margin of the sea; which
from Tagiura to Cape Seiarra takes the form of a bay, at the head of
which lies Wady Ramleh. It was late in the afternoon of the sixth
•f- These solitary enjoyments are by no means overdrawn ; every traveller accustomed
to' desert journeys must have experienced them : and the late lamented Burckhardt has
frequently been heard to declare, that his most pleasant hours in travelling have been
passed in the desert.
when we reached the Wady, and came up with the party who had
preceded us in advance with the camels and heavy baggage.
Wady Ramleh, or Rummel (as it is sometimes pronounced, which
signifies, in Arabic, sandy river, or sandy valley), is a small, but constant
stream of pure water, which finds its way across the desert
from the mountains to the southward. The bed of the stream
is much below the surface of the soil ; and judging from its
width, and the steep banks which confine it, we should conclude
that at the periods when the freshes come down from the mountains,
Wady Ramleh may be swelled into a considerable body of water.
Here our day’s journey finished, and we pitched our tents near the
stream, making them as comfortable as a stormy night would allow
of for the friends who had accompanied us from Tripoly*. On the following
morning the rain fell in torrents ; and as the prospect afforded
by the weather was not very inviting, we would not allow our companions
to stray farther with us from home ; but took our leave of
them, as we flattered ourselves, with mutual regret, and they retraced
their steps towards Tripoly, while we continued our journey to the
eastward.
The wind had by this time increased to a violent gale, and we
were very soon wet to the skin : but although such a state may. not
appear to be at all times an enviable one, it was in fact very much so
on this occasion ; for the clouds of sand which would have been
hurled in our faces by the wind, had the surface of the desert been
* Lieut. Clapperton, Mr. Carstenson, and some other friends from Tripoly, had rode
with us thus far on our journey.