The
Provisions Of My Companions Consisted Only Of Flour; Besides Flour, I
Carried Some Butter And Dried Leben (Sour Milk), Which When Dissolved In
Water, Forms Not Only A Refreshing Beverage, But Is Much To Be
Recommended As A Preservative Of Health When Travelling In Summer.
These
were our only provisions.
During the journey we did not sup till after
sunset, and we breakfasted in the morning upon a piece of dry bread,
which we had baked in the ashes the preceding evening, without either
salt or leven. The frugality of these Bedouins is indeed without
example; my companions, who walked at least five hours every day,
supported themselves for four and twenty hours with a piece of dry black
bread of about a pound and a half weight, without any other kind of
nourishment. I endeavoured, as much as possible to imitate their
abstemiousness, being already convinced from experience that it is the
best preservative against the effects of the fatigues of such a journey.
My companions proved to be very good natured people: and not a single
quarrel happened during our route, except between myself and my guide.
He too was an honest, good tempered man, but I suffered from his
negligence, and rather from his ignorance of my wants, as an European.
He had brought only one water-skin with him, which was to serve us both
for drinking and cooking; and as we had several intervals of three days
without meeting with water, I found myself on very short allowance, and
could not receive any assistance from my companions, who had scarcely
enough for themselves.
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