408 ARAB NAMES OF POOLS. 



be known by the name of the animals, and Count 

 D'Escayrac de Lauture informs us that the desert is 

 dotted over with fountains thus christened, "of the 

 gazelle," "the ostrich," etc.; or named perhaps after 

 some domestic animal as "the camel," "the sheep," 

 " the bull, " etc. ; in these latter cases the name has very 

 likely been given through the animal wandering away, 

 and its owner after following the trail perhaps for days 

 has at length come up with it, upon the borders of 

 some desert pool, to which the marvellous instinct of 

 these animals had conducted it.* 

 According to the same authority, 



" the water of these pits is in general brackish or putrid : 

 sometimes it proceeds from a soil impregnated by the salts 

 of soda, saltpetre, magnesia or lime, etc. : at other times it 

 has lain long upon the soil, exposed to the scorching sun, 

 and decomposed: the dung of the animals which come to 

 drink adds to the general infection, and the water is green or 

 black, sticky and viscid, its odour repulsive, and the taste 

 acrid or sickly. In the pits it is often bitter, and cruelly 

 purges the unfortunates who are forced to drink it: in the 

 lagoons, its evil smelling properties are still stronger, and act 

 upon the system in the same manner as putrescent sub- 

 stances: it is in one word a regular vegetable septic poison. 

 In general, however, the consequences of its use are not very 

 grave, and only a prolonged usage gives rise to serious 

 consequences." f 



The borders of many of these desert pools upon the 

 great caravan routes resemble charnel houses, so thickly 

 surrounded are they with the bones and decaying 

 remains of camels and even of human beings, poor 



* See Le Desert et Le Soudan, par M. le Comte D'Escayrac de 

 Lauture, Paris, 1853, p. 600. 

 j- Ibid., p. 600. 



