Benioleed. The Negresses had, from the time of our setting off, been collecting wood, and the poor creatures were each laden with stock for two days. We passed a grave, which was ornamented by an inverted gourd at the head. The person buried there was a drunken man, a native of Sockna, who had been in the habit of carrying letters or orders across the desert, whenever the Sultan required it, and was able to pass it on foot in three days, at about forty miles a day. It once happened that a letter was to be brought from Sockna to Zeghen, and this man was selected for the purpose; he was drunk at the time, yet insisted on having his gourd full of Lackbi, instead of carrying, as usual, a small skin of water at his back, promising, however, to drink enough at Gutfa, a well at the foot of the mountains. He set out in this condition, and was found dead with his empty gourd by his side, within an hour’s walk of the well we had left, and so finished his task; he was accordingly buried here, as a warning to all topers. A t 12. 6. P. M. came to the sand, and passed over it until 1.30. when we reached very steep, irregular sand hills, which we found great difficulty in ascending, the camels falling repeatedly. Having cleared these hills, we ascended a plain by a pass called Kenaire jAa, to the eastward of which, at the distance of a mile, is the turret I have already mentioned. Through the sand hills, I observed a singular line of rocks, resembling the scoria of the lava of Vesuvius, and about ten feet in breadth, running north and south for about five hundred yards. The mountains over Om el Abeed, which we had just left, run east and west, until lost in the distance. The hills we ascended were of limestone and flint, very precipitous, and facing to the southward, running east-south-east and west-north-west. The plain was covered with a white crust or clay, with here and there bare rock intervening. At 3. 40. P. M. we passed over a few sand hills, called El Ramie Shraiya, or the small sands. At 4.15. came to a black stony flat. 4. 45. passed a long line of stones facing the east, called “ Sala el Sultan, or the praying place of the Sultan a former Sultan having prayed here while passing the desert with a numerous army. At 6. 30. arrived at a spot called Gheranfata, which is generally a resting-place, and is marked by two or three basaltic heaps: we had advanced to the pass, north 45° east, twelve miles, and from it north 52° east, the same distance. Observed this day that the driver of one of the camels, which had joined us at Zeghen, was a blind man: he held by the animal’s tail, and was in the habit of going constantly over this uneven, and, in some places, dangerously steep track between Sockna and .Mor- zouk. I learnt from Khalifa that one of his Khadems had died in the morning, and that he had stopped behind to bury her. Sunday, 20th February. Thermometer SO'below 0°.—A t 7. 80. passed over some gravelly plains as the day before. The horizon was as perfectly level as that of the sea. We saw a great deal of Shrab or false water. This plain is scattered with the carcasses of the numerous animals which have died on it after passing the mountains. N o ravenous animals are found here, so that it is rare to see a skeleton deprived of flesh. A t 1. 80. we passed El Kamle Kebeer, or the large sands, which is a range of sand hills running to a great distance to the east-south-east from our right haiid. At 6. SO. stopped, having travelled north 35°, east 35 miles. The slaves were much fatigued, and I placed a couple of little children on my horse, whilst I rode on a camel. Belford’s Maherry was in very poor plight; but I determined, if possible, to get him to Sockna. The hills of El Gaaf, which are placed on the right and left of the road before us, bore thus: north-east point of the western range north 27° east; west point of the eastern range north 66° east. A raw night, much sand blowing over us. r r 2
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