THE CAMEL. 193 



Such was the face of the desert, until within a short dis- 

 tance of Cape Bajador, where they met with immense 

 heaps of loose sand, forming mountains from one to 

 four hundred feet in height, blown and whirled about by 

 every wind, and dreadful to the traveller ; for, should a 

 strong gale arise while in the midst of them, he and his 

 animals must inevitably perish, overwhelmed by flying 

 surges of suffocating sand. It might have been conjectured 

 that this dreadful wilderness was peopled with such fear- 

 ful creatures as fly the face of man, but our travellers saw 

 none, nor was it a fit dwelling for any animal that requires 

 water. There were neither beasts nor birds, nor reptiles, 

 in all that dreary waste, except a few wild ostriches, and 

 it seemed strange how they could exist there ; nor was it 

 known from whence they came. 



But all that portion of the Great Desert which Captain 

 Riley traversed, from about the twentieth degree north 

 latitude, where he first put ashore, to near the twenty- 

 eighth, and from the longitude of Cape Barbas, about ten 

 or eleven degrees west, presented a smooth surface, con- 

 sisting partly of solid rock, gravel, sand, and stone, with 

 occasionally a little soil. This mass had been rendered 

 in many parts nearly as hard as marble by the extreme 

 heat of the sun, so that no tracks of man or beast are dis- 

 coverable, nor does the heaviest step make the least im- 

 pression. All is smooth to the eye as the plain of the 

 ocean when unruffled by winds and tempests ; not a break 

 nor undulation, a single tree or shrub serves as a guide or 

 landmark to the weary traveller ; not a sound is heard but 

 the voice of those gusty winds which sweep over the face 

 of the desert, or the almost noiseless step of the camel's 

 feet on the hard sqil. 



Nearly every part of this vast desert is inhabited by 

 different tribes of Arabs, who wander from one hollow to 

 another ; seeking food for their camels among the dwarf 

 *iorn-bushes, and also for themselves. They live in tents 



13 



