One of our blacks this day killed a lefa, the most dangerous species of snake; and several thobs or lizards were caught.  The greyhound of the Fezzanee also ran down a hare.  Next day it procured us a gazelle; but with these exceptions were seen only ground-larks, and what we call in Lincolnshire water-wagtails.

It is worth mentioning that at this place our chaouch sprained his ankle, and Dr. Overweg applied spirits of camphor as lotion.  This terrible fellow, this huge swaggerer, this eater-up of ordinary timid mortals, was reduced to the meekness of a lamb by his slight accident; and for the first time since the caravan was blessed with his presence did he remain tranquil, breathing out from time to time a soft complaint.  In the course of the day he had contrived to make himself particularly disagreeable.  First he fell out with the servant of the Germans, Mahommed of Tunis.  Then he quarrelled with us all, because he picked up a blanket for somebody and was refused his modest demand of three piastres as a reward.  We are heartily glad that he is tamed for awhile.

On the 12th, shortly after we started, I happened to look behind and saw, coming from the west, some clouds that seemed to give promise of rain.  Already I felt the air cooled by anticipation, but was soon undeceived.  In the course of an hour a gheblee began to blow, and continued to increase in violence until it enervated the whole caravan.  Our poor black women began to drop with fatigue, and we were compelled to place them on the camels.  Here was a foretaste of the desert, its hardships and its terrors!  The air was full of haze, through which we could scarcely see the flagging camels, with their huge burdens; and the men, as they crawled along, were apparently ready to sink on the ground in despair.  We breathed the hot atmosphere with difficulty and displeasure.

Right glad were we then, at length, to reach the Wady Taghijah, where I at once recognised my old desert friend, under whose spreading and heavy boughs I once had passed a night alone in the Sahara,—­the ethel-tree!  It is a species of Pinus, growing chiefly in valleys of red clay on the top of mounds, which are sometimes overshadowed by a gigantic tree, with arms measuring four feet in circumference.  Of its wood are made the roofs of houses, the frames of camel-saddles, and bowls for holding milk and other food.  With the berries and a mixture of oil the people prepare their water-skins, as well as tan leather.  The valley is strewed with huge branches, cut down for the purpose of extracting resin.  The ethel and the batoum are the most interesting of desert-trees, and I shall regret to exchange them for the tholukh.  I wrote down the names of fourteen shrubs found in the valley of Taghijah:  two of them, the sidr and the katuf, are edible by man; the rest, with the exception of the hijatajel, afford food for the camels.