LOST 309 



rocky ribs of the mountain-side and bring forth 

 water 1 



I now reached the level and sandy desert at the 

 base of the hills a wide waste which I knew would 

 be difficult and trying to cross on foot. It was 

 evident that the windings of the canon which I had 

 been obliged to follow had taken me considerably out 

 of my way, and to reach my objective point I should 

 have to round a spur whose promontory descended 

 into the desert many miles towards the horizon. The 

 shorter cut had proved to be a long route, as often 

 happens ; and it would have been wiser to have fol- 

 lowed the plain at the other side, where I had lost 

 my mule, than to have attempted this way alone. 



Notwithstanding the hunger and thirst from which 

 I suffered, I marked, both from habit and from interest, 

 the varying formation of the region ; for to the trained 

 mind the geological and topographical features of a 

 landscape are of intense interest. Pulling myself 

 together, I struck across the sand desert towards the 

 distant spur beyond which I hoped my camp must 

 lie. God help me if it did not ! 



Such reflections passed through my mind as I 

 tramped onwards across the desert, my eyes ever upon 

 the distant spur ; and I fell into a sort of dreamy 

 state, due to hunger and lack of sleep and the effect 

 of the sudden changes of temperature which I had 

 undergone. The air came as if in blasts from a 

 furnace. Miniature cyclones, small * waterspouts ' of 

 dust whirled skywards on the far horizon, with a spiro- 

 vortex motion which carried their upper extremities 

 to the sky veritable pillars of sand, which followed 

 each other over the plain as if in some gigantic game 



