On the 29th January, therefore, they moved on, accompanied by the Tibboos; and after travelling about ten miles, they came to the well of Duggesheinga.  This was a retired spot, undiscoverable from the ordinary route of travellers, being completely hidden from it by rising sand-hills.  Here the Tibboos left them, promising to return early on the following day, with sheep, an ox, honey, and fat.  This was joyful news to persons who had not tasted fresh animal food for fourteen or fifteen days, with the exception of a little camel’s flesh.

On the following day, the wind and drifting sand were so violent, that they were obliged to keep their tents during the whole of it.  Major Denham found a loose shirt only the most convenient covering, as the sand could be shaken off as soon as it made a lodgement, which with other articles of dress, could not be done, and the irritation it caused, produced a soreness almost intolerable.  A little oil or fat, from the hand of a negress, all of whom are early taught the art of shampooing to perfection, rubbed well round the neck, loins, and back, is the best cure, and the greatest comfort in cases of this kind; and although, from his Christian belief, he was deprived of the luxury of possessing half a dozen of these shampooing beauties, yet, by marrying his negro, Barca, to one of the freed women slaves, as he had done at Sockna, he became, to a certain degree, also the master of Zerega, whose education in the castle had been of a superior kind, and she was of the greatest use to the major on these occasions of fatigue or sickness.  It is an undoubted fact, and in no case probably better exemplified than in this, that man naturally longs for attentions and support from female hands, of whatever colour or country, so soon as debility or sickness comes upon him.

Towards the evening, when the wind became hushed, and the sky re-assumed its bright and truly celestial blue, the Tibboo sheik, and about thirty of his people, male and female, returned; but their supplies were very scanty for a kafila of nearly three hundred persons.  The sweet milk turned out to be nothing but sour camel’s milk, full of dirt and sand; and the fat was in small quantities, and very rancid.  They, however, purchased a lean sheep for two dollars, which was indeed a treat.

Some of the girls who brought the milk were really pretty, as contrasted with the extreme ugliness of the men.  They were different from those of Bilma, were more of a copper colour, with high foreheads, and a sinking between the eyes.  They have fine teeth, and are smaller and more delicately formed than the Tibboos who inhabit the towns.

It is quite surprising with what terror these children of the desert view the Arabs, and the idea they have of their invincibility, while they are smart, active fellows themselves, and both ride and move better and quicker; but the guns! the guns! are their dread; and five or six of them will go round a tree, where an Arab has laid down his gun for a minute, stepping on tiptoe, as if afraid of disturbing it, talking to each other in a whisper, as if the gun could understand their exclamations, and, it may be presumed, praying to it not to do them an injury, as fervently as ever man Friday did Robinson Crusoe’s musket.