,582 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER- 



weigh but a very few pound? ; no vermin had touched i% 

 as in this whole dcfert there is neither -woim, fly, nor a\iy 

 thing that has the breath ot life. 



On th€ 2ift, at fix in the morning, having filled the gir- 

 bas 'viih water, we fet.out from Naibey, our dn-edion due 

 north, and, as we thought, in a courfe almcll llraight upon 

 Syene. The fait hour of our journey was through fliarp- 

 poimed rocks, which it was very eafy to forefee would very 

 ibon finilli our cainels. About eight we had a view of the 

 delcrt to the weitward as before, and faw the fands had al- 

 ready begun to rife ininimcnfe twilled pillars, which dark- 

 ened the heavens. The riling of thefe in the morning fo ear- 

 ly, we began now to obferve, was a fure fign of a hot day, 

 with a bnlk wmd at north ; and that heat, and the early- 

 riling of the fands, was as fure a fign of its falhng calm abouc 

 mid-day, and its being followed by two hours of the poifon- 

 ous wind. That laft conlideration was what made the great- 

 t;!. imprellion, for we had felt its cfFeds ; it had filled us 

 with fear, and abforbed the laft remnant of our llrength; 

 whereas the fand, though a deflruc^ion to us if it had in- 

 volved us in its compafs, had as yet done us no other hai'm 

 than terrifying us rhe firll days we had feen it. 



It was this day more magnificent than any we had as 

 yet feen. The iun Ihining through the pillars, which Avere 

 thicker, and contained more fand apparently than any of 

 the preceding days, feemed to give thofe neareft us an ap- 

 pearance as if fpoticd with liars of gold. I do not think 

 at any time they feemed to be nearer than two miles. The 

 moft remarkable circumftance was, that the fand feemed 

 to keep in that vail circular fpace furrounded bj the Nile 

 2 oa 



