598 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 
But Providence had already decreed that we fhould not ters 
minate this dangerous journey by our own ordinary. fore: 
fight and contrivance, but owe it entirely to his vifible fups- a 
port and. interpofition.. : ; 
On the 27th, at half paft five in the morning we attempts- 
-ed to raife our camels at Saffieha by every method. that: 
we could devife, but all in vain, only one: of. them could. 
get upon his legs, and that one did not ftand:‘two minutes 
till he kneeled down, and could never be raifed:afterwardsi. 
This the Arabs all declared to be the effects of cold ;. and yet: 
FEahrenheit’s thermometer, an hour-before day, ftood at 42°. 
Every way we turned ourfelves. death now ftared.us in the~ 
face. We had.neitlier.time nor ftrength to wafte, nor pro-. 
vifions to fupport us.. We then. took. the {mall fkins that: 
had. contained. our- water, and filled: them as far as- we: 
thought a man-could carry them with: eafe ;. but: after alli 
thefe fhifts, there was not.enough to ferve us three days, at- 
which i had. eftimated: our journey to Syene, which. ftill: 
however was uncertain.. Finding, therefore, the camels. 
would not'rfe, we killed two of them; and took fo much: 
flefh as might ferve for the deficiency.of bread, and, from. 
the flomach of each of the camels, got about four gallons. 
of water, which the Bifhareen Arab managed with. great: 
dexterity. It is Known to people converfant with. natural! 
hiftory,.that:the camel has within him:refervoirs in-which. 
he.can preferve drink for. any number of days he is ufed! 
‘to. In thofe caravans, of long courfe, which come from:the- 
Niger acrofs the: defert of Selima, it is faid that each camel,, 
by drinking, lays: in:a ftore of water that will fupport him. 
for forty days. I will by no means be a: voucher of this ac. 
<ount, which. carries. with it an air of. exaggeration ;_ but - 
fourteen: 
