reached El-Garha, which is a detached conical hill to the west, close to our road; and here we halted for the night *. Dec. 22.—We moved before daylight, passing some rough sand hills, mixed with red stone, to the west, over a plain of fine gravel, and halted at the maten, called El-Hammar, close under a bluff head, which had been in view since quitting our encampment in the morning. Strict orders had been given this day for the camels to keep dose up, and for the Arabs not to straggle—the Tibboo Arabs having been seen on the look out. During the last two days, we had passed on an average from sixty to eighty or ninety skeletons each day; but the numbers that lay about the wells at El-Hammar were countless: those of two women, whose perfect and regular teeth bespoke them young, were particularly shocking; their arms still remained dasped round each other as they had expired ; although the flesh had long since perished by being exposed to the burning rays of the sun, and the blackened bones only le ft: the nails of the fingers, and some of the sinews of the hand, also remained; and part of the tongue of one of them still appeared through the teeth. We had now passed six days of desert without the slightest appearance of vegetation, and a little branch of the souak was brought me here as a comfort and curiosity. On the following day we had alternately plains of sand and loose gravel, and had a distant view of some hills to the west. While I was dozing on my horse about noon, overcome by the heat of the sun, which at that time of the day always shone with great power, I was suddenly awakened by a crashing under his feet, which startled me excessively. I found that my steed had, without any sensation of shame or alarm, stepped upon * Several o f our camels are drunk to-day: their eyes are heavy, and want animation; gait staggering, and every now and then, falling as a man in a state o f intoxication. It arose from eating dates after drinking water; these probably pass into the spirituous fermentation in the stomach.—W . O. the perfect skeletons of two human beings, cracking their brittle bones under his feet, and, by one trip of his foot, separating a skull from the trunk, which rolled on like a ball before him This event gave me a sensation which it took some time to remove. My horse was for many days not looked upon with the same regard as formerly. Dee. 24.—-When the rains fall, which they do here in torrents in the season, a sort of grass quickly springs up many feet high. In passing the desert, a few remaining roots of this dried grass, which had been blown by the winds from Bodemam, were eagerly seized on by the Arabs, with cries of joy, for their hungry camels. The plain was this day covered with slight irregularities, and strewed with various coloured stones—thick beds of gypsum, stones resembling topazes, and. pieces of calcareous spar, which, reflecting the rays of the setting-sun, displayed a most beautiful variety of tints. An incrustation of fine whiting lay in patches, at no great distance from the well: and soon after the sun had retired behind the bills to the west, we descended into a wadey, where about a dozen stunted bushes (not trees) of palm marked the spot where the water was to be found. Even these miserable bushes were a great relief to the eye, after the dreary sameness of the preceding days; and at daybreak in the morning, I could not help smiling at seeing Hillman gazing at them with pleasure in his look, while he declared they reminded him of a valley near his own home in the West of England. The wells are situated under a ridge of low white hills of sandstone, called Mafrasben-Kasarettsa, where there are also beds and hills of limestone. The wells were so choked up with sand, that several cart-loads of it were removed previous to finding sufficient water; and even then the animals could not drink until near ten at night. One of our nagas had this day her accouchement on the road; and we all looked forward to the milk which the Arabs assured us
27f 24
To see the actual publication please follow the link above