At eleven in the morning the heat became excessive, and we halted at a place where we found a few little banks of sand. A slave was sent to seek out a few bushes that might afford us shade, but no such thing was to be discovered. The reflection of the rays of the sun on the sand augmented the heat. It was impossible to stand barefoot on the sand without experiencing intolerable pain. The desert is here and there interspersed with a few hills, and we found at very distant intervals a little grass for the camels.
We had been the whole of the morning without drink, and as soon as our tents were pitched we slaked our thirst. Our water began to diminish in proportion as our thirst increased, therefore we did not cook any thing for supper, but merely drank a little dokhnou. About eleven at night we broke up our camp and proceeded northward: at seven in the morning we turned N. N. W.
At eleven o’clock on the 8th of May, the insupportable heat obliged us to halt on a spot as flat and barren as that at which we had stopped on the preceding day. We pitched our tents, and assembled beneath them. Some drink was distributed to us; and, as we had tasted none since five o’clock on the preceding evening, our thirst was very great. Though the water had received a bad taste from the leathern bag, it was nevertheless exceedingly grateful. I observed some ravens and vultures, the only inhabitants of these deserts. They subsist on the carcases of the camels that die and are left behind on the road. At half past six in the evening, after having refreshed ourselves with a glass of water and dokhnou, we proceeded on our journey. We travelled all night in a northerly direction. The camels, finding no pasture, went on without stopping.
About 8 o’clock on the morning of the 9th of May, we halted in a sandy plain, where we found a little grass for our poor camels. There we perceived at a distance the camels of el-Arawan.
In the morning, little before sun-rise, the Moors who accompanied me shewed me the spot where Major Laing was murdered. I there observed the site of a camp. I averted my eyes from this scene of horror, and secretly dropped a tear—the only tribute of regret I could render to the ill-fated traveller, to whose memory no monument will ever be reared on the spot where he perished.
Several Moors of our caravan, who had witnessed the fatal event, told me that the major had but little property with him when he was stopped by the chief of the Zawâts, and that he had offered five hundred piastres to a Moor to conduct him to Souyerah (Mogador). This the Moor refused to do, for what reason I was not informed, and I dared not inquire. They also spoke of the sextant, which I have mentioned above.
Having pitched our tents near some water, we could drink as much as we pleased. Rice was boiled for our dinner and we were somewhat indemnified for the privations we had undergone in the preceding days. At six in the evening we proceeded northwards over a very level sandy soil, on which were scattered a few solitary patches of vegetation. Though the sand has a tolerable consistency, yet not a tree was to be seen. Towards nine in the evening, we arrived at El-Arawan, another commercial entrepot. We encamped outside the city, and in the neighbourhood I observed several tents and camels, which I was told belonged to the caravan, waiting for the signal for departure. Our arrival was greeted by the howling of dogs, a circumstance which reminded me that I had seen none of those animals at Timbuctoo.
Being unaccustomed to riding on camels, I found myself extremely fatigued by the journey. The moment we stopped, I spread my wrapper upon the sand, and fell into a profound sleep. I did not find the heat so oppressive as it had been on the preceding days. I was roused to partake of an excellent couscous brought from the city.
On the morning of the 10th of May my guide took me to his correspondent Kalif, to whom I had been recommended in a private letter from Sidi-Abdallahi-Chebir. I met with a favourable reception, and he lodged me in one of his houses, where he had some slaves and merchandise.
As soon as I was installed in my new dwelling, my guide, who had been very attentive to me on the journey, wished through my influence to get himself quartered upon Kalif; but I refused to make any such proposal to my host, lest I should appear troublesome. Finding me obstinate on this point, he asked me to lend him my cotton wrapper to wear while he paraded about the town to visit his acquaintance. I consented to this in order to get rid of him; but next day, I thought it prudent to make him return my wrapper. Another time he told me that he had been robbed of the wooden bowl, out of which he used to drink on the journey, and earnestly begged me to ask my host for one and give it him. Wearied by all these demands and not knowing how to get rid of the troublesome fellow, I gave him a flat refusal; but that did not deter him from coming very often to partake of my repast of rice and couscous. This man was continually asking the slaves, whether they had any provisions or other articles to sell, a practise by which he and others like him often induced the poor creatures to plunder their masters.