Desert; I have observed that these
skeletons are found in greatest numbers where the sands are deepest;
which arises from the loaded camels passing such places with difficulty,
and often breaking down in them. It is an erroneous opinion that the
camel delights in sandy ground; it is true that he crosses it with less
difficulty than any other animal, but wherever the sands are deep, the
weight of himself and his load makes his feet sink into the sand at
every step, and he groans, and often sinks under his burthen. It is the
hard gravelly ground of the desert which is most agreeable to this
animal.
On the plain we fell in with the great road from Tor to Suez, but soon
quitted it to the right, and turned to the north in search of a natural
reservoir of rain, in which the Bedouins knew that some water was still
remaining. At the end of five hours and a half, we reached a narrow
cleft in the mountain, where we halted, and my guides went a mile up in
it to fill the skins. This is called Wady
MORKHA
[p.623] el Dhafary [Arabic]; it is sometimes frequented by the Arabs,
because it furnishes the only sweet water between Tor and Suez, though
it is out of the direct road, and the well of Morkha is at no great
distance.
