his steed had, without any sensation of shame or alarm, stepped upon the perfect skeletons of two human beings, cracking their brittle bones under his feet, and by one trip of his foot, separating a skull from the trunk, which rolled on like a ball before him.  This event imparted a sensation to him, which it took him a long time to remove.  His horse was for many days afterwards not looked upon with the same regard as formerly.

One of their nagas had this day her accouchement on the road, and they all looked forward to the milk, which the Arabs assured them she had in abundance, and envied them not a little their morning draughts, which they were already quaffing in imagination.  However, one of the many slips between the cup and the lip was to befall them.  The poor naga suddenly fell, and as suddenly died.  The exclamations of the Arabs were dreadful.  “The evil eye! the evil eye!” they all exclaimed; “she was sure to die, I knew it.  Well! if she had been mine, I would rather have lost a child, or three slaves.  God be praised!  God is great, powerful, and wise; those looks of the people are always fatal.”

On the 1st January 1823, they arrived at the wadey Ikbar.  The Arabs here caught a hyena, and brought it to Major Denham; he, nor any other of the party, had any other wish than to have merely a look at it.  They then tied it, to a tree, and shot at it, until the poor animal was literally knocked to pieces.  This was the most refreshing spot they had seen for many days; there were dome trees laden with fruit, though not ripe, which lay in clusters, and grass in abundance.  They could have stayed here a week, says Major Denham, with pleasure; so reviving is the least appearance of cultivation, or rather a sprinkling of nature’s beauty, after the parching wilds of the long and dreary desert they had passed.

Looking back with great regret at leaving the few green branches in Ikbar, with nothing before them but the dark hills and sandy desert, they ascended slightly from the wadey, and leaving the hills of Ikbar, proceeded towards a prominent head in a low range to the east of their course, called Tummer as Kumma, meaning “You’ll soon drink water;” and about two miles in advance, they halted just under a ridge of the same hills, after making twenty-four miles.  Four camels were knocked up during this day’s march:  on such occasions, the Arabs wait in savage impatience in the rear, with their knives in their hands, ready, on the signal of the owner, to plunge them into the poor animal, and bear off a portion of the flesh for their evening meal.  They were obliged to kill two of them on the spot; the other two, it was hoped, would come up in the night.  Major Denham attended the slaughter of one, and despatch being the order of the day, a knife is struck into the camel’s heart, while his head is turned to the east, and he dies almost in an instant; but before that instant expires, a dozen knives are thrust into different parts of the carcass, in order to carry off the choicest parts of the flesh.  The heart, considered as the greatest delicacy, is torn out, the skin stripped from the breast and haunches, part of the meat cut, or rather torn from the bones, and thrust into bags, which they carry for the purpose, and the remainder of the carcass is left for the crows, vultures, and hyenas, while the Arabs quickly follow the kafila.