Beyond this there was no noise. The
men had no strength to talk or to sing, and the tread of many feet
awaken no echo in the sandy waste. Waves of red and yellow, or of
dazzling whiteness, swelled round in a circle of ever-varying diameter
as we rose and fell. Here and there stretched great stains of black
herbage. Every object is magnified and changed to the eye. The heat and
the swinging motion of the camel produce a slight dizziness, and the
outer world assumes a hazy indistinctness of outline--something like
dream-landscapes. There is a desert-intoxication which must be felt to
be appreciated.
We must not, however, libel even the Sandy Desert, by producing the
impression that it is all barren and comfortless. Though far more
difficult to travel over than the Hamadah, it possesses the inestimable
advantage of having water every day once at least. A little after noon,
indeed, we passed two lakes; one small, and the other of considerable
dimensions, containing sweet water, and bordered by a fringe of
palm-trees. At times there is very good herbage for the camels. The most
frequent shrub on which they browse is the _resou_, which has small ears
of grain, eaten also by men as food. Traces of animal life, as I have
observed, are few; but we saw this day two broken ostrich-eggs. How they
came there it is difficult to say: no traces or footmarks have been
remarked.
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