A SUNRISE IN THE TROPICS. 51 



snug as possible. Though the ground was our couch, and 

 the sky our canopy, we slept soundly, and awoke early the 

 next morning, greatly refreshed. We much needed this re- 

 newal of our vigor, for the day proved exceedingly trying 

 both to men and cattle. 



Once more we were on the Naarip plain, though this 

 time we traveled parallel with the Swakop (whicii here pur- 

 sued an easterly course), on the edge of those gloomy rocks 

 through which its deep and turbulent channel has forced its 

 way. 



Just as we entered this wild and dreary waste, the sun 

 rose in all its refulgence, converting, as if by magic, the 

 whole of the eastern sky into one mass of the most dazzling 

 light — tinting the distant mountains with a soft vermilion, 

 and causing the dew-bespangled pebbles beneath our feet to 

 sparkle like so many diamonds. He who has not witnessed 

 a sunrise or a sunset in the tropics (rendered the more re- 

 markable by the nearly total absence of twilight) can not 

 form the least idea of its magnificence and splendor. 



But alas ! these sights, so lovely to the eye, are often fol- 

 lowed by such intense heats as to be nearly insupportable to 

 the way-worn traveler. We were now in the month of Sep- 

 tember, and the rays of the sun, at noon falling almost ver- 

 tically on our heads, caused a fearfully high state of temper- 

 ature. The hot sand, moreover, cruelly burnt our feet, and 

 not a breath of wind stirred the glaring and seething atmos- 

 phere. To complete our misery, we suffered from the most 

 violent thirst, which our scanty supply of water, half boiling 

 as it was, could in no way tend to mitigate. 



Our poor animals seemed to suffer as much as ourselves. 

 Their gait, protruding tongues, and drooping heads indicated 

 great distress. Still they toiled on, but slowly and painfully, 

 through the sand, which had now become soft and yielding. 

 Long before we had accomplished the day's stage, one of the 

 mules dropped down from exhaustion, and we were obliged 



