At Timbuctoo the merchants give the slaves shirts, such as are worn in the country, that they may be decently covered; but on the route the Moors of the caravans, who are the most barbarous men I ever knew, take the good shirts from them and give them others all in rags.
At five in the evening the caravan, the camels of which amounted to nearly six hundred, halted in a ravine of yellow sand, which was, however, pretty solid. Here these animals found some herbage, and the spot appeared to me delightful. A slave, who was barely allowed time to take a drink of water, was ordered to look after our camels, and we thought of nothing but how to pass the night quietly; but before we laid ourselves down to sleep, we made our supper on a calabash of water, some dokhnou, and the bread which I had received from Sidi-Abdallahi; the bread being hard we soaked it in the water, into which we put a little butter and honey. This mixture was to us a delicious beverage. The slaves had for their supper some sangleh seasoned with butter and salt. These good-natured creatures were so kind as to offer me some of their meal.
On the 5th of May, at sun-rise, we resumed our journey. We still proceeded towards the north, upon ground similar to that over which we passed on the preceding day. A few stunted bushes were descried here and there, and also some salvadoras, which the camels devoured.
Towards noon we approached a less level region, where the ground was raised into slightly elevated mounds, all inclining in the direction from east to west. The heat was suffocating, on account of the east wind, which raised great clouds of sand: our lips were covered with it; our thirst became insupportable; and our sufferings increased in proportion as we advanced further in the desert. We fell in with two Tooariks, who were going to el-Arawan, and whom we took to be the scouts of a troop of these marauders. Fortunately they were alone. They were both mounted on one camel. On the left arm they had a leather buckler; by the side, a poniard; and in the right hand, a pike. Knowing that they should meet us in their route, they had brought no provisions with them, and trusted to the caravan for a supply. These robbers, who would have trembled at the slightest menace, if seriously made, took advantage of the terror which their name and the crimes of their tribe every where spread, and obtained whatever they demanded: in a word, the best of every thing was presented to them. On the one hand, there was a sort of rivalship in offering them whatever they chose to eat; on the other, to give them water, though it would be six days before we should come to any. At last, after they had staid with us three days, we had the satisfaction to see them depart, and to be delivered from their troublesome company.
At four in the evening we encamped to pass the night, during which we were oppressed by excessive heat, caused by a dead calm. The sky was heavy and covered with clouds which seemed immoveable in the immensity of space. Still the heat continued intense.
Before proceeding farther, I ought to inform the reader how I continued to make an estimate of the route. We travelled, at an average, about two miles an hour. At night we proceeded almost constantly in a northerly direction. Being afraid that my pocket compass would be noticed if I took it out to consult it, I judged of our course during the day by the sun; in the night, by the pole-star.
It is by this star that the Arabs are guided in all their excursions through the desert. The oldest caravan conductors go first, to lead the way. A sand-hill, a rock, a difference of colour in the sand, a few tufts of herbage, are infallible marks, which enable them to recognize their situation. Though without a compass, or any instrument for observation, they possess so completely the habit of noticing the most minute things, that they never go astray, though they have no path traced out for them, and though the wind in an instant completely covers with sand and obliterates the track of the camels.
The desert, however, does not always present the same aspect, or, consequently the same difficulties. In some parts I found it covered with rocks and gravel, which bore the traces of caravans that had passed long before. Besides, though the desert is a plain of sand and rock, the Arab commits few errors in crossing it, and is seldom wrong to the extent of half an hour in fixing the time of arrival at the wells. I ought not to omit to mention, that these wells are almost constantly found covered over, and that the first thing done on the arrival of a caravan is to clear away the sand.
On the 6th of May we resumed our march, at three in the morning, and continued our route to the north. Still the same soil, the same aridity, and the same uniformity, as on the preceding days.
The atmosphere was very heavy all day, and the heat excessive. It seemed as if we should have rain. The sun, concealed by clouds, appeared only at long intervals. But our prayers did not obtain from Heaven a drop of rain. In spite of all the prognostics no shower fell. The further northward we proceeded the more barren the country became. We no longer saw either thistles or salvadoras: sad consolations, where all nature wears so frightful an aspect! The plain had here the precise appearance of the ocean; perhaps such as the bed of a sea would have, if left by the water. In fact, the winds form in the sand undulating furrows, like the waves of the sea when a breeze slightly ruffles its surface. At the sight of this dismal spectacle, of this awful abandonment and nakedness, I forgot for a moment my hardships, to reflect on the violent convulsions which thus appeared to have dried up part of the ocean, and of the sudden catastrophes which have changed the face of our globe.