616 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



JOURNXT ACROSS THE DESERT. 

 (From Pottinger's Travels.) 



March 31st. We were on our 

 camels this morning by fo\ir 

 o'clock, and moved five miles 

 -west by south to a well, where 

 we filled every thing that would 

 contain water preparatory to en- 

 countering the desert. This well 

 was at least one hundred and fifty 

 feet deep, nearly square, and not 

 more than six feet in diameter : 

 the sides of it, for two fathoms 

 below the surface, at which depth 

 the strata became firm and haid, 

 were propped by split date trees 

 vertically placed, and held in that 

 situation by the pressure of the 

 ends of pieces of the same wood 

 running horizontally across the 

 pit. An aperture was left at one 

 corner to admit a small bucket or 

 co])per vessel for drawing tlie 

 water, which I was both sur- 

 prized and disapj)ointed, consi- 

 dering tlie detpness of the well, 

 to find so brackish as to be barely 

 palatable. 



We quitted this well just as 

 the sun rose, and proceeded the 

 greater part of the way on foot, 

 twenty-seven miles farther, over 

 a desert of red sand, the parti- 

 cles of which were so light, that 

 when taken in the hand they were 

 scarcely more than palpable : the 

 whole is thrown by winds into an 

 irregular mass of waves princi- 

 pally running east and Avest, and 

 varying in height from ten to 

 tv\ enty feet ; most of these rise 

 perpendicularly on the opposite 

 side to that from which tlie pre- 

 vailing wind blov s (north-west), 

 and might readily be fancied, at 

 a distjance, to resemble a new 



brick wall. The side facing the 

 wind slopes off with a gradual 

 declivity to the base (or near it) 

 of the next windward wave. It 

 again ascends in a straight line, 

 in the same extraordinary manner 

 as above described, so as to form 

 a hollow or jjath between them. 

 I kept as much in these paths as 

 the <lirection I had to travel in 

 would admit of, but had never- 

 theless exceeding difficulty and 

 fatigue in urging the camels over 

 the waves wheu it was requisite 

 to do so, and more particularly 

 where we had to clamber up the 

 leeward or perpendicular face of 

 them, in which attempt we were 

 many times defeated, and reduced 

 to go round until an easier place 

 or turn in the wave offered. On 

 the oblique or shelving side the 

 camels got up pretty well, as their 

 broad feet saved them from sink- 

 ing deeper than we did ourselves, 

 and the instant they found the 

 top of the wave giving way from 

 their weight, they most expertly 

 dropt on their knees, and in that 

 posture gently slid down with the 

 sand, which was luckily so un- 

 connected, that the leading camel 

 usually caused a sufficient breach 

 for the others to follow on foot. 

 All symptoms of vegetation had 

 ceased for the latter ten miles of 

 my journey this day, except a few 

 stunted bushes of the Taghuz 

 and a hardy little plant called by 

 the Belooches Sirrikoh, bearing a 

 purple flower with a very power- 

 ful odoriferous smell. My guide 

 appeared to be chiefly regulated 

 in his movements by a chain of 

 mountains that were at times just 

 discernible to the southward. I 

 did not halt tmtil it was almost 

 dark, being desirous of getting 



through 



