To take them a mile and a half
before we could get any grass for them. Returning from this duty, we had
to collect and carry on our backs for more than a mile, a few bundles of
sticks and bushes, to make a little fire for ourselves, near the water,
the night being intensely cold. It was past two o'clock in the morning
before we could lay down, and then, tired and harassed as we were, it was
too cold and damp for us to rest.
December 3. - The scorching rays of the morning sun awoke us early, weary
and unrefreshed, we had no trees to shade us, and were obliged to get up.
After looking at the well, and congratulating ourselves upon its not
having fallen in, we set off to look for the horses, they had wandered
away in search of food, causing us a long and tiresome walk over the
sand-hills in the sun, before we could find them; having at last got them
and driven them to where the water was, we were chagrined to find that
during our absence the well had again fallen in, and we had the labour of
clearing it out to go through again.
The day was excessively oppressive, with a hot parching wind, and both we
and the horses drank incessantly.
