The region forms so large a pasture ground that it would be unlikely that the whole expanse would suffer from drought at any one time.
As the deer and the antelope families wander in search of fresh pasturage, the beasts of prey, eager for their food, follow in their wake.
In this peculiar region, nature has provided several plants especially adapted to the limitations of the soil. These plants seem to store up food, and even water, under what seems to be the dry sand of this sterile tract.
One such plant has a low stalk not much larger than the quill of a crow's feather. This plant sends its roots down into the sandy soil. At a depth of one or two feet the root expands into a tuber. This tuber is about the size of a small melon. It consists of a mass of watery, cellular tissue, much like a young turnip.
Another variety of plant is a low creeper. It expands into a cluster of tuberous roots. Some of these tubers are as large as a man's head. The clusters sometimes measure a yard in diameter.
A native searching for one of these clusters pounds the ground with stones, till a hollow sound indicates the spot where he will find the prize.
Many of the animals dig away the sand with their sharp hoofs from these spots, which instinct teaches them to find, just as the reindeer finds the moss of the Arctic regions buried beneath the snow.
A kind of gourd grows in great abundance, covering large tracts. Both men and animals are very fond of it.
One traveler relates that in crossing the desert, during the season for these gourds, he found them in great abundance. So numerous, in fact, were they, that he and his cattle lived on them for three weeks. During this interval no water was to be had. When a supply of water was reached, all seemed to have lost their liking for it.
Another variety of gourd seeks the low sand hills. It has a fruit about the size of a turnip. The outside of this fruit is of a greenish yellow; the inside is of a deep orange color.