Overweg appeared in the person of
Mohammed et-Tunisee. He shot three small fowls of Carthage, one of which
he gave me, I promising him a little powder in return when we came to
Ghat. We noticed a small black bird with a white throat. But all through
this desert we listen in vain for some songster. There is no reason for
merriment in these dismal solitudes.
Our people have dug a well, which the Tanelkums promise to call "Bir
Engleez,"--the English Well. Good water was found easily, near the
surface at this station.
_4th._--We started late, and made only a short day; but herbage for the
camels is only found hereabouts. Our course was, as usual, south-west
over an undulating plateau, with an horizon now near, now distant. The
surface of the ground was for the most part blackened sand, stone
pebbles, and some blocks of very bad stone. The weather continues, fresh
and pleasant. We did not feel the heat until some time after noon; and
as we halted early at Ghamoud, suffered nothing. The wind--which we
notice as if on ship-board--now comes always from the east, generally
with a point north. It seems to be a sort of trade-wind throughout this
portion of the desert. I begin now to read on the camel's back, and find
this a pleasing relief from the jog-trot monotony of the movement. I am
anxious to read the whole of the Bible in Hebrew on the camel's back.
Our friends the lizards were still glancing along the ground in the
bright sunshine, but in diminished numbers.
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