But Providence had already decreed that we ihould not ress.
minate: this dangerous journey by our own ordinary fore^
figh t and contrivance, but owe. it. entirety to his. vifible fup*. -
port and interpofition..
On the 27th; atrhalf paftfive in the morning w e Mttcm pt- -
ed to raife our camels a t Saftieha. by- every method, that-
we could devife, but all in vain, o n ly one o f thenr could
get upon his legs, and that one did.norftand two minutes
till h e kneeled down, and. could, never be.raifed afterwards-,.
This the Arabs all declared to be the effcris of. cold j.and yet:
Fahrenheit^ thermometer, an hour-before day, ftood'at 420...
Every w ay we turned ourfefoes death now ftaredus in .the
face. We hadneither.time nor ftrength towafte, nor pro-
vifions, to fupport us.. We’ then took, the fmall ikins that
had contained our. water, and filled' them as far as. we
thought a man could carry them, with eafe ;. but: after all
thefc ihifrs, there was not enough to ferve us three days, at:
which 1 had. eftimated, our: journ e y to Syene, which: f t ill:
however was uncertain.- Finding, therefore,, the camels .
would not rife, w e k illed two o f them, and took fo much
M a s m igh t ferve for the deficiency, o f bread,. and, from s
thaftomach o f each o f the camels, got* about four gallons :
o f water, which the Biihareen Arab managed with grea t.-
dexterity. It. is .knowntto people oonverfant w ith ; natural;
hiftory, that, the cameihas within himsrefervoirs:in which:
he:can preferve drink, for any number o f days he is ufed;
to. Ih thofe caravans; o f long couriev.wihieh come from the
Niger, acrofs the defen,of Selima. it is daid that each camel, ,
by drinking, lays in a Jlore o f w ater that will-fupport him
fo r forty days* I will by.no means be a-voucher o f this account,,
which carries, with, it an air of. exaggeration; but
fourteen
fourteen, or fixteen days, it is well known, an ordinary camel
will live, though he h a th no freflv: fupply of- water.
When he chews the cud, or when he eats, you conftantly fee
him throw, from this repofitory, .mouthfuls o f water-to- dilute
his fo o d ; and nature has-contrived this veflel with
fuch properties, that the water within it never putrifies, nor
turns unwholefome. It was indeed vapid, and .of a bluifh
eaft, but had neither, tafte nor fmelL
T he fmall remains o f ou r miferabre flock o f black bread'
and. dirty water,, the.only, fupport we had hitherto, lived on
amidft the bu rnin g, fands; and our fpirits likewife, were
exhaufted by an uncertainty o f■ our journey’s end. We '
were, furrounded among thoi'e terrible, and unufual phenomena
o f nature which Providence, in mercy to the weak-
nefs o f his creatures, has concealed far. from their fight ia
deferts almoft inaccellible to. them. Nothing but death was
before our eyes ; and, in.thefe terrible moments of, p a in ,.
iufFering, and defpair, honour, inftead o f relieving me, fug-
gefted ftill what was to be an augmentation to my misfortu
n e ; the feeling this produced fell direitly upon m e a lo n e ,.
and e very other individual o f the company was unconfcious
o f it, .
T h e drawings made at PalmyraundBaalhec for the king,
were, in many parts o f them, n ot advanced farther than the
outlines, which I had-carried with me, th a t,if leifureor confinement
ihould happen. I, might finifh them during , my
travels in cafe, o f failure of, other'employment, , fo far at
leaft, that, on m y return through Italy, they might be in a
ftate. of-receiving, further improvement, which might carry
them to,that perfection I have fince been enabled to com.
d u& l