But now my poor dromedary, by whose life and strength I held my own, began to show signs of distress:  a thick, clammy, and glutinous kind of foam gathered about her lips, and piteous sobs burst from her bosom in the tones of human misery.  I doubted for a moment whether I would give her a little rest, a relaxation of pace, but I decided that I would not, and continued to push forward as steadily as before.

The character of the country became changed.  I had ridden away from the level tracts, and before me now, and on either side, there were vast hills of sand and calcined rocks, that interrupted my progress and baffled my doubtful road, but I did my best.  With rapid steps I swept round the base of the hills, threaded the winding hollows, and at last, as I rose in my swift course to the crest of a lofty ridge, Thalatta!  Thalatta! by Jove!  I saw the sea!

My tongue can tell where to find a clue to many an old pagan creed, because that (distinctly from all mere admiration of the beauty belonging to nature’s works) I acknowledge a sense of mystical reverence when first I look, to see some illustrious feature of the globe—­some coast-line of ocean, some mighty river or dreary mountain range, the ancient barrier of kingdoms.  But the Red Sea!  It might well claim my earnest gaze by force of the great Jewish migration which connects it with the history of our own religion.  From this very ridge, it is likely enough, the panting Israelites first saw that shining inlet of the sea.  Ay! ay! but moreover, and best of all, that beckoning sea assured my eyes, and proved how well I had marked out the east for my path, and gave me good promise that sooner or later the time would come for me to rest and drink.  It was distant, the sea, but I felt my own strength, and I had heard of the strength of dromedaries.  I pushed forward as eagerly as though I had spoiled the Egyptians and were flying from Pharaoh’s police.

I had not yet been able to discover any symptoms of Suez, but after a while I descried in the distance a large, blank, isolated building.  I made towards this, and in time got down to it.  The building was a fort, and had been built there for the protection of a well which it contained within its precincts.  A cluster of small huts adhered to the fort, and in a short time I was receiving the hospitality of the inhabitants, who were grouped upon the sands near their hamlet.  To quench the fires of my throat with about a gallon of muddy water, and to swallow a little of the food placed before me, was the work of few minutes, and before the astonishment of my hosts had even begun to subside, I was pursuing my onward journey.  Suez, I found, was still three hours distant, and the sun going down in the west warned me that I must find some other guide to keep me in the right direction.  This guide I found in the most fickle and uncertain of the elements.  For some hours the wind had been freshening, and