H a v i n g received all the alTurances poffible from Idris
that he would live and die w ith us, after having repeated the
prayer o f peace, we put on the belt countenance poffible,
and committed ourfelves to the defert. There were Ifmaei
the Turk, two Greek fervants befides Georgis, who was
almoft blind and uf'elefs. Two Barbarins, who took care
o f the camels, Idris, and a young man, a relation o f his,
who joined him at Barbar, to return home ; in all nine
perfons,-eight only o f whom were effedfive. We were all
well-armed with blunderbufies, fwords, piftols, and double-
barrelled guns, except Idris and his lad; who had lances,
the only arms they could ufe. Five o r fix- naked wretches
o f the Tucorory joined us at the watering- place, much
againft my will, for I knew that we Ihould probably-be re^
duced to the difagreeable neeeffity o f feeing them die with
thirit before our eyes ; or by affifting them, ihould any accident
happen to our water, we ran a very great rifk of,
periihing with them—
I t was on the 9th o f November, at noon, we left Gooz;
and fet out for the fakia, or watering-place, which is be-s
low a little village called Haifa. All the weft fide o f the
Nile is fu l l o f villages down to Takaki, but they are all
Jaheleen,. without government; and perpetually in rebellion.
, At h a lfp a ft three in the afternoon we came to the
Nile to lay in our ftore of' water. We filled four Ikins,
which migh t contain altogether about a hogfhead and a
h a lf- As for our food, it confifted in ’ twenty-two large
goats Ikins fluffed with a powder o f bread made o f dora
here at Gooz, on purpofe for fuch expeditions. It is about,
the fize and ihape o f a pancake, but thinner. Being much
dried, rather than toafted at the. fire, it is afterwards rubbeck
Bed between the hands into a dull or powder, for the fake
o f package; and the goat’s fkin crammed as fu ll as poffible,
and tied at the mouth with a leather thong. This bread
has a fouriih tafte, which it imparts to the water when
mingled With it, and fwells to fix; times the fpace that it
occupied when dry. \ handful, as much as you could
grafp, put into a bowl made o f a gourd fawed in two, about
twice the contents of-a common tea-bafon, was the quantity
allowed to each man every day, morning and evening;
and another, fuch gourd of-water divided,; one h a lf two
hours before noon, the other about an hour after. Such
were the regulations we a ll o f us fubfcribed t o ; we had not
camels for a greater provifion. The- Nile at Haifa runs
at the foot o f a- mountain called Jibbel Atefhan, or the
Mountain ofTbirJi;-the-men, emphatically enough, confider-
in g that thofe who part from it, entering the defert, take
there the firft provisions againft thirft, and there thofe that
come to.it from .the.defert firftaffuage. theirs...
On the n th , about eléven o’clock in the forenoon we
left Haifa. It required a whole day to fill our Ikins, and
foak them well in the water, in order to make an experiment,
w hich w as o f the greateft confequence o f any one we
ever made, whether thefe Ikins-were water-tight, or not. I
had taken the greateft care while at Chendi to dawb them
well over with greafe and tar, to fecure their pores on the
outfide ; but Idris told u s this was not enough,: and that
foaking the infide with water, filling'them choak-full, and
tying their mouths as hard as poffible, was the only way to
b e certain i f they were water-tight without.