36 LIFE OF DA YID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



pointed. As it appeared evident that if we continued the same route we 

 must perish from thirst, at the suggestion of my guide we turned north- 

 ward, over a dreary, trackless, sandy waste, without one green blade of 

 grass, and scarcely a bush on which the wearied eye could rest. Becoming 

 dark, the oxen unable to proceed, ourselves exhausted with dreadful thirst 

 and fatigue, we stretched our wearied limbs on sand still warm from the 

 noon-tide heat, being the hot season of the year. Thirst aroused us at an 

 early hour ; and finding the oxen incapable of moving the waggon one inch, 

 we took a spade, and, with the oxen, proceeded to a hollow in a neighbouring 

 mountain. Here we laboured for a long time, digging an immense hole in 

 the sand, where we obtained a scanty supply, exactly resembling the old 

 bilge-water of a ship, but which was drunk with an avidity which no pen can 

 describe. Hours were occupied in incessant labour to obtain a sufficiency for 

 the oxen, which, by the time all had partaken, were ready for a second 

 draught ; while some, from the depth of the hole and the loose sand got 

 scarcely any. We filled the small vessels which we had brought, and 

 returned to the waggon over a plain glowing with a meridian sun ; the 

 sand being so hot, it was distressingly painful to walk. The oxen ran 

 frantic, till they came to a place indurated with little sand. Here they 

 stood together, to cool their burning hoofs in the shade of their own bodies ; 

 those on the outside always trying to get into the centre. In the evening, 

 when about to yoke them in order to proceed on our journey, we found 

 that most of them had run off. An attendant, who was despatched in search 

 of them, returned at midnight with the sad tidings that he was compelled 

 by thirst, and terror of meeting with lions, to abandon his pursuit. 



"No time was to be lost, and I instantly sent off the remaining oxen 

 with two men, to take them to the next fountain, and then proceed to 

 solicit assistance from Mr. Bartlett, at Pella. Three days I remained with 

 my waggon-driver on this burning plain with scarcely a breath of wind, 

 and what there was felt as if coming from the mouth of an oven. We 

 had only tufts of dry grass to make a small fire, or rather flame ; and little 

 was needful, for we had scarcely any food to prepare. We saw no human 

 being, although we had an extensive prospect; not a single animal or beast 

 of prey made its appearance ; but in the dead of the night we sometimes 

 heard the distant roar of the lion on the mountains, where we had to so 

 twice a day for our nauseous but grateful beverage. At last when we were 

 beginning to fear that the men had either perished or wandered, Mr. Bartlett 

 arrived on horseback, with two men, having a quantity of mutton tied 

 to their saddles. 1 cannot conceive of an epicure gazing on a table groaning 

 under the weight of viands, with half the delight that 1 did on the mutton, 

 which, though killed only the preceding evening, required no keeping to 

 make it tender." 



