136 Bedouin Tribes of t lie Etiplwates. [cu. xxr. 



back to me ? " He sent word, however, to say 

 we were welcome, and to excuse himself from 

 coming to meet us, on the score of fatigue. His 

 tent is fully eight miles away. 



Sunday, April 14. — To-day we have seen the 

 most wonderful spectacle the Desert has to shovv^ — 

 the Eoala camp. We came upon it quite suddenly, 

 as, crossing a low ridge of rising ground, we looked 

 down over the plain of Saighal and saw it covered, 

 as far as the eye could reach, with a countless multi- 

 tude of tents and men and mares and camels. In 

 the extreme distance, at least ten miles away, lay 

 the lake of Saighal glittering white in the sun ; and 

 the whole space between it and where we stood 

 seemed occupied, while east and west there was at 

 least an equal depth of camp. We have estimated 

 the whole number of tents at twenty thousand, and 

 of camels at a hundred and fifty thousand ; and, at 

 the sight, I felt an emotion of almost awe, as when 

 one first sees the sea. Nothing that we have seen 

 hitherto in the way of multitude approaches to this. 

 The Sebaa, with their allies, may be as numerous, 

 but they have not a fourth part of the Roala camels, 

 nor have we on any occasion seen them all collected 

 thus in one place. It gave us, too, an immense idea 

 of the real size of the tribe thus congregated, to find 

 that, travelling at our usual pace, it was more than 

 two hours before we arrived at Sotamm's tent, which 

 stood, they told us, in the centre of the camp, and 

 that durinsf all our route we were never a hundred 



