"Against the hot breezes hard struggled her breast, Slow, slow beat her heart, as she hastened to rest; No more shall sharp anguish her faint bosom rend, For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend.
"No more shall she sink in the deep scorching air, No more shall keen hunger her weak body tear; No more on her limbs shall swift lashes descend, For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend.
"Ye ruffians! who tore her from all she held dear, Who mock'd at her wailings and smil'd at her tear; Now, now she'll escape, every suffering shall end, For the strong arm of death was the arm of a friend."
I returned to the encampment and found the caravan in motion. Burning hot to-day. I felt the heat as oppressive as in my journey of August to Ghadames. Fortunately our faces were north-east, away from the sun in its greatest power. No one can understand this passage, καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος φαίνει ἐν τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ, (Rev. i. 16,) who has not travelled under the influence of the Saharan sun. The rays dart down with a peculiar fierceness upon your devoted head, depriving you of all your life-springs. As to its splendour, the eye of the eagle turns away daunted from its all-effulgent beams. Since leaving Ghat we have passed many graves of the "bond and the free," who have died in open desert. Passed one to-day, with Arabic characters carved on the stone raised at its head. Passed by also several desert mosques, which are simply the outline in small stones, of the ground-plan of Mahometan temples.
We have, in many instances, only the floor of the mosque marked out, or rather the walls which inclose the floor. Within the outlines the stones are nicely cleared away. Here the devout passers-by occasionally stop and pray. The desert mosques are some of them of these shapes—
The places projecting in squares or recesses are the kiblah, upon which the Faithful prostrate themselves towards the east, or Mecca[33].
Our course is through an undulating country of hills and valleys. We made a short day, for we began to fear we might lose many of the slaves. A Touarghee caravan, going to Fezzan, overtook us en route, but soon turned off to the north-west.
Footnotes:
[27] I hope I offered up a heartfelt prayer of thankfulness to the Almighty for my deliverance from perishing in The Desert.