We glanced back in awe, and
yet in some triumph, towards the iron-bound desert we had thus safely
traversed; but our eyes soon turned from so bleak a prospect, when we
beheld, dotting the sandy wady, clumps of the wild palm, green copses,
and the majestic ethel-tree.
It was about two in the afternoon when we reached the camping-ground,
all our people shouting, "_Be-Selameh el Hamadah!_" Farewell to the
Hamadah! I cried out the same words in a joyful voice; for, although now
that the dangers of the plateau were overcome they seemed diminished in
my eyes, yet I felt that we had escaped from a most trying march with
wonderful good fortune. It is difficult to convey an idea of the horror
and desolation of so vast a tract of waterless and uninhabited country.
They alone who have breathed the sharp air of its blank nakedness can
appreciate it, or understand how any accidental delay, sickness, the
bursting of the water-skins, the straying of the camels, might produce
incalculable sufferings, and even death. "_Be-Selameh el Hamadah!_"
then, with all my heart. "_Be-Selameh! be-Selameh!_" again rings through
the caravan, as we reach at length our camping-ground, and throw
ourselves at full-length under the pleasing shade. Even the
camel-drivers were so fatigued, that they stretched out as soon as the
command to halt was given, and let their animals stray at will, without
taking the trouble to unload them.
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