The Arab belief in the genii
and afreet, and all the demon enemies of man, was a natural
consequence of a wandering life in this desert wilderness, where
nature is hostile to all living beings.
In forty-six hours and forty-five minutes' actual marching from
Korosko we reached Moorahd, "the bitter well."
This is a mournful spot, well known to the tired and thirsty
camel, the hope of reaching which has urged him fainting on his
weary way to drink one draught before he dies: this is the
camel's grave. Situated half way between Korosko and Abou Hammed,
the well of Moorahd is in an extinct crater, surrounded upon all
sides but one by precipitous cliffs about 300 feet high. The
bottom is a dead flat, and forms a valley of sand about 250 yards
wide. In this bosom of a crater, salt and bitter water is found
at a depth of only six feet from the surface. To this our tired
camels frantically rushed upon being unloaded.
The valley was a "valley of dry bones." Innumerable skeletons of
camels lay in all directions; the ships of the desert thus
stranded on their voyage. Withered heaps of parched skin and bone
lay here and there, in the distinct forms in which the camels had
gasped their last; the dry desert air had converted the hide into
a coffin.
