As we went along, indications of the new power, which had already
effected the easy transit of the desert, were visible in small patches
of coal, scattered upon the sand; presently we saw a dark nondescript
object, that did not look at all like the abode of men, civilized
or uncivilized; and yet, from the group hovering about an aperture,
seemed to be tenanted by human beings. This proved to be an old
boiler, formerly belonging to a steam-vessel, and appearing, indeed,
as if some black and shapeless hulk had been cast on shore. The well,
which had attracted my donkeys, was very picturesque; the water flowed
into a large stone trough, or rather basin, beneath the walls of a
castellated edifice, pierced with many small windows, and apparently
in a very dilapidated state. Those melancholy _memento moris,_ which
had tracked our whole progress through the desert, were to be seen
in the immediate vicinity of this well. The skeletons of five or six
camels lay in a group within a few yards of the haven which they had
doubtless toiled anxiously, though so vainly, to reach. I never could
look upon the bones of these poor animals without a painful feeling,
and in the hope that European skill and science may yet bring forward
those hidden waters which would disarm the desert of its terrors.
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