They Looked Upon Us As Intruders, And Came Very Near To Us, As If
Asking Us Why We Had The Audacity To Disturb The Tranquillity Of Their
Republic.
The ground here in many places was covered with a substance
like the rime of a frosty morning; it tastes like salt, and from it they
get nitre.
Captain B. thinks it was salt. The water which we drank was
brought from Ghafsa: the Bey drinks water brought from Tunis. We marched
across a vast plain, covered with the salt just mentioned, which was
congealed in shining heaps around bushes or tufts of grass, and among
which also scampered a few hares. We encamped at a place called
Ghorbatah. Close to the camp was a small shallow stream, on each side of
which grew many canes; we bathed in the stream, and felt much refreshed.
The evening was pleasantly cool, like a summer evening in England, and
reminded us of the dear land of our birth. Numerous plains in North
Africa are covered with saline and nitrous efflorescence; to the
presence of these minerals is owing the inexhaustible fertility of the
soil, which hardly ever receives any manure, only a little stubble being
occasionally burnt.
We saw flights of the getah, and of another bird called the gedur,
nearly the same, but rather lighter in colour. When they rise from the
ground, they make a curious noise, something like a partridge. We were
unusually surprised by a flight of locusts, not unlike grasshoppers, of
about two inches long, and of a reddish colour.
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