336 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



they are not noticeable when looked at from above or from the side. 

 But where a mountain rises in the midst of the desert, it shows its 

 varied character also in the animal life. On the gray rocks of the 

 mountains in Arabia the steinbok clambers, the hyrax has its home, 

 the bearded vultures nest, and not a few other birds are to be found 

 on the peaks and cliffs, in the chasms and valleys. But from the 

 dark rocks of more low-lying deserts the only sound one hears is 

 the loud but tuneful song of the deep-black wheatear. 



Thus the desert exhibits harmony in all its parts and in every 

 one of its creatures, and this fact goes far to strengthen the impression 

 made on every thoughtful, sensitive, and healthy mind an impres- 

 sion received on the first day in the desert, and confirmed on every 

 succeeding one. 



If one would really know the desert and become in any measure 

 at home there, one must have a vigorous constitution, a receptive 

 mind, and some poetic feeling. Whoever shrinks from enduring 

 the discomforts of the journey, whoever fears either sun or sand, 

 should avoid the desert altogether. Even if the sky be clear, and 

 the atmosphere pure and bright, even if a cooling breeze come from 

 the north, the day in the desert is hard to bear. Almost suddenly, 

 with scarce any dawn, the sun begins to exert his masterful power. 

 It is only near the sea or large rivers that the dawn is heralded 

 by a purple flush on the eastern horizon; amid the vast sand-plains 

 the sun appears with the first reddening in the east. It rises over 

 the flats like a ball of fire, which seems as if it would burst forth 

 on all sides. The coolness of the morning is at once past. Directly 

 after sunrise the glowing beams beat down as if it were already 

 noon. And though the north wind, which may blow for months at 

 a time and is often refreshing, may prevent the unequally expanded 

 layers of air from shaping themselves into a mirage, yet it does not 

 bring sufficient cooling to annul the peculiar heaving and quivering 

 of the atmosphere which is seen over the sand. Heaven and earth 

 seem to float in a flood of light, and an indescribable heat streams 

 from the sun, and is reflected again from the sand. With each hour 

 the light and heat increase, and from neither is there any escape. 



The caravan starts at daybreak and proceeds without a sound. 



