454 BEDOUIN LOVE OF THEIR DESERT HOMES. 



stillness more intense, broken only by the crunching of the 

 sand beneath the animals' feet." * 



Count D'Escayrac de Lauture speaks much to the 

 same effect, so does Dr. Hans Meyer the desert accord- 

 ing to the latter in its deathlike stillness suggests the 

 idea of Infinity, and far more than the ocean, leads 

 the mind to the contemplation of things sublime. * 



It is commonly supposed that a journey through a 

 desert is of necessity an affair involving tremendous 

 fatigues, and exposure to pitiless glare and heat, such 

 as to render all enjoyment impossible. That is as may 

 be. When a caravan is obliged to cross very exten- 

 sive waterless tracts, of course it must continue the 

 march almost night and day, whatever the condition 

 of the travellers, as the safety of all depends upon 

 reaching water within a given time, but at other places 

 springs exist all along the route at convenient dis- 

 tances: and experience shows that this class of travel- 

 ling is quite capable of being so managed as to be 

 very enjoyable, and often exercises what seems to be 

 an irresistible charm over many minds. As regards 

 its loneliness, Solymos affirms that " not a tenth do 

 people in the desert feel the solitariness of an average 

 bachelor in town. " f We shall close our remarks on 

 this head by appending a translation of the last para- 

 graph of the work of Count D'Escayrac de Lauture, a 

 high authority in these matters, to which reference 

 has so often been made. He says 



"What renders travelling in the desert comfortable is the 



* Travels in Africa, by Dr. Wilhelm Junker, translated from the 

 German, pp. 41 and 42. 



\ See Dr. Hans Meyer's Across East African Glaciers, translated 

 from the German, p. 74. 



Desert Life, by B. Solymos, 1880, p. 34. 



