Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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The Greater Part Of
The Desert, However, Is Seldom Visited, Except Where The Caravans
Pursue Their Laborious And Dangerous Route.
In other parts, the
disconsolate wanderer, wherever he turns, sees nothing around him but
a vast indeterminable expanse of
Sand and sky; a gloomy and barren
void, where the eye finds no particular object to rest upon, and the
mind is filled with painful apprehensions of perishing with thirst.
Surrounded by this dreary solitude, the traveller sees the dead
bodies of birds, that the violence of the wind has brought from
happier regions; and as he ruminates on the fearful length of his
remaining passage, listens with horror to the voice of the driving
blast, the only sound that interrupts the awful repose of the desert.
The antelope and the ostrich are the only wild animals of these
regions of desolation, but on the skirts of the desert are found
lions, panthers, elephants, and wild boars. Of domestic animals the
camel alone can endure the fatigue of crossing it: by the
conformation of his stomach, he can carry a supply of water for ten
or twelve days; his broad and yielding foot is well adapted for
treading the sand; his flesh is preferred by the Moors to any other,
and the milk is pleasant and nourishing. On the evening of the 25th
of May, Mr. Park's horse and accoutrements were sent to him by order
of Ali. He had already taken leave of queen Fatima, who most
graciously returned him part of his apparel, and early on the 20th,
he departed from the camp of Bubaker, accompanied by Johnson and
Demba, and a number of moorish horsemen.
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