The Remaining Half Of Their Journey To Mourzouk Was Pretty Nearly The Same Kind Of Surface As They Had Passed Before, But In Some Places Worse.

Sometimes two, and once three days, they were without finding a supply of water, which was generally muddy, bitter,

Or brackish. Nor is this the worst which sometimes befals the traveller; the overpowering effect of a sudden sand-wind, when nearly at the close of the desert, often destroys a whole kafila, already weakened by fatigue, and the spot was pointed out to them strewed with bones and dried carcasses, where the year before, fifty sheep, two camels, and two men perished from thirst and fatigue, when within eight hours march of the well, for which they were then anxiously looking.

Indeed the sand storm they had the misfortune to encounter in crossing the desert, gave them a pretty correct idea of the dreaded effects of these hurricanes. The wind raised the fine sand, with which the extensive desert was covered, so as to fill the atmosphere, and render the immense space before them impenetrable to the eye beyond a few yards. The sun and clouds were entirely obscured, and a suffocating and oppressive weight accompanied the flakes and masses of sand, which it might be said they had to penetrate at every step. At times they completely lost sight of the camels, though only a few yards before them. The horses hung their tongues out of their mouths, and refused to face the torrents of sand.

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