DESERT OF BILMA. 259 



his hand and bag of zujueeta on his head, sink at a dis- 

 tance beneath the slope of one of these, as he plods hia 

 way alone, hoping to gain a few paces in his long day's 

 work by not following the track of the camels, one trem- 

 bles for his safety : the obstacle passed which concealed 

 him from the view, the eye is strained towards the spot, in 

 order to be assured that he has not been buried quick in the 

 treacherous overwhelming sand." On the 20th, passed 

 hills named Geisgal, of dark sandstone^ and a table-shaped 

 hill in the wadey Dibla, of sandstone and slate-clay. Here 

 some fulgurites, or lightning-tubes, were observ'ed in the 

 sand. A number of semi-vitrified small stones were found 

 on the sands, which the people collected to use as bullets. 

 The journey still across sandy deserts to an extensive wadey 

 called Aghadem, which they reached on the 23d. Here are 

 several wells of excellent water, and hills of sandstone. 

 From thence crossed the sand desert of Tintuma. On the 

 27th, " we," says Denham, " appeared gradually approach- 

 ing something like vegetation. We had rising sands and 

 clumps of fine grass the whole way, and the country was 

 not unlike some of our heaths in England." Towards eve- 

 ning the trees increased in number ; and when the travellers 

 halted, the animals found abundance of food. The spot 

 where they halted is called Geogo Balwy. They continued 

 their route across sands and through valleys, bounded by 

 low sandstone hills, and by some sait lakes. As they ap- 

 proached the great fresh-water lake Tchad, the country im- 

 proved much in appearance, owmg to the increase of soil, 

 and consequently of vegetation. On the 4th February, 

 they came in sight of this great lake. On February 5th, 

 reached Lari, on the shore of the Great Lake. On the 6th, 

 the freed slaves, natives of Kanem, left them for their 

 homes, three days' journey to the eastward. One poor deaf 

 and dumb woman, whom the rapacity of Mukni, the former 

 sultan of Fezzan, who spared neither age, sex, nor infirmity, 

 had induced him to march to Tripoli, had shed torrents of 

 tears ever since she had been made acquainted, by signs, 

 that she was to go to Bornou. She had left two children 

 behind her, and the third, which was in her arms when she 

 Was taken by the Arabs, had been torn from her breast 

 after the first ten days of her journey across the Desert, in 

 order that she might keep up with the camels. Her e;tpre8- 



