558 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



new ones at Sennaar, which were to defend them from tlie 

 fimoom and the fand, and all the dangers of the defert. That 

 they might not foil thefe in filling the water, they had taken 

 them from their arms, and laid them on the brink of the 

 well before they went down. Upon looking for thefe after 

 the girbas were filled, they were not to be found. This double 

 attempt v/as an indication of a number of people being in the 

 neighbourhood, in which cafe our prefcnt fituaiion was one 

 of the moft defperate that could be figured. We were in 

 the middle of the moft barren, inhofpitable defert in the 

 world, and it was with the utmoft difficulty that, from day 

 to day, we could carry wherewithal to afi^uage our thirft. 

 We had with us the only bread it was pofilble to procure 

 for fome hundred miles ; lances and fwords were not ne- 

 ceflary to deftroy us, the burfiing or tearing of a girba, the 

 lamencfs or death of a camel, a thorn or fprain in the foot 

 which might difable us from walking, were as certain death 

 to us as a fliot from a cannon. There was no flaying for 

 one another ; to lofe time was to die, becaufe, with the ut- 

 moft exertion our camels could make, we fcarce could cany 

 along with us a fcanty provifion .of bread and water fuffi- 

 ,cient to keep us alive. 



That defert, which did not afford inlialiitants for the at 

 fiftance or relief of travellers, had greatly more than fufii- 

 cient for deftroying them. Large tribes of Arabs, two or 

 three thotifand, cncam.ped together, were cantoned, as it 

 were, in different places of this defert, where there was wa- 

 ter enough to fcrve tlieir numerous herds of cattle, and thefe, 

 as their occafion required, traverfed in parties all that wide 

 expanfe of folitude, frcm the mountains near the Red Sea 

 ,eaft, to the ba^ks of the Nile on tlie wtft, according as tlieir 

 ^ feveral 



