438 MUSINGS IN THE DESERT. 



consequent upon such wanderings. New ideas, 

 fresh feelings, and novel truths pressed themselves 

 forward with scarcely an exertion of thought, sur- 

 rounded as I was hy fields of unexplored nature, 

 new to me in her vegetation, in her animal king- 

 dom, and in the character of her principal phe- 

 nomena. Of these I had certainly read, hut I now 

 looked upon reality, and saw that abundance of 

 facts in previous descriptions had been overlooked, 

 and still remain to requite a patient pursuer of 

 truth, more competent to observe and reflect, than 

 a mere beginner, like myself, in the study of 

 natural history. 



I certainly am affected by the still quiet of a 

 moonlight night, and very readily believe, that if 

 it can produce the moody calms and melancholy 

 enjoyment it does on my particular disposition, that 

 on some others it may have more exaggerated effects, 

 and "moon-stricken lunacy" may not, perhaps, be 

 improperly attributed to such an influence. How- 

 ever, I am not now sitting on the top of some piled 

 up boxes, pistols around my waist, and a dagger ready 

 to my hand, nor am I surrounded by the mummy-like 

 forms of sleeping savages wrapt closely up in their 

 tobes, whilst champing ruminating camels, with 

 large goggle eyes, and goose looks, appear almost as 

 contemplative as myself. I am not now the half- 

 Bedouin, half-moss-trooper of the time I spent in 

 Adal, and incidents will be more interesting to my 

 reader, than any account of the dreamy castles that 



