SAHARA, OR GREAT DESERT. 833 



horizon looks like the fire of a series of volcanoes. Rain falls, in some districts, in the latter 

 part of summer. An aromatic plant resembling thyme, acacias, and other thorny shrubs, net- 

 tles, and brambles, are the ordinary vegetation. A few groves of the date, or other palm 

 trees, are met with here and there. On the southern border, are forests of green trees. Some 

 monkeys and gazelles support themselves on the scanty vegetation. Numerous flocks of os- 

 triches are also found here. Lions, panthers, and serpents, add to the horrors of these frightful 



solitudes. The animals live almost without 

 drink. The flocks consist of camels, goats, 

 and sheep. 



The coast contains some good harbors, as 

 the Rio do Ouro, and the harbor of St. Cyp- 

 rian. Here is Cape Bojador, the terror of 

 the navigators of tlie middle age, and down to 

 the year 1553, the fatal limit of all voyages in 

 this direction. Cape Blanco, a little further 

 south, is thought to be the southern limit of 

 the Carthaginian discoveries. 



The manner of traveling, is with camels ; 

 and every traveler, or, indeed, every Arab, 

 is constantly armed, for the tribes generally 

 live in that state of pillage and warfare, that 

 mark the descendants of Ishmael. The 

 camel, only, of all domesticated animals, 

 finds a support in the scanty vegetation of a 

 few spots in the desert. A common camel can easily travel 100 miles in a day. The cara- 

 vans from Morocco take 130 days to cross the desert, 54 of which are traveling days, and the 

 others spent at the difl^erent stations, in rest. The desert is a shifting sea of sand ; there is 

 no track, and there are few landmarks. Drought, or clouds of sand, often destroy travelers. 

 In 1805, a caravan of 1,S00 camels, and 2,000 people, perished from drought, as there was no 

 water at the usual wadeys. Caravans of traders cross this immense desert, from the Barbary 

 States to Central Africa. The only animals capable of being employed in this service, are 

 camels, which, from their ability to travel many days without water, are admirably fitted for these 

 journeys. A few spots, scattered here and there, aflbrd, occasionally, a pool or stream of 



water, and a grove of palm trees. These are 

 called wadeys, or watering-places. 



No part of the earth's surface seems so un- 

 fit for the support of human life, as the great 

 Desert of Sahara ; yet it is inhabited by many 

 roving tribes of Arabs, Moors, Tuaricks, and 

 Tibboos. Existence, here, is a constant 

 struggle with hardship and want. The inhab- 

 itants are composed of Arabs and their negro 

 slaves. The Arabs are of a reddish, copper 

 color, and they are hardy enough to endure, 

 without murmuring, the frequent extremes of 

 want, to which their situation exposes them. 

 They are lean, but strong. Their eyes are 

 black and piercing, their hair and beard black, 

 their cheek bones prominent, and their noses 

 aquiline. The old women are represented as 

 ugly beyond all comparison, while the young 

 are not deficient m beauty. They take great pains to make the eye teeth project beyond the 

 others, and the lip is often held up by them ; this gives to a sharp and wrinkled face, a fero- 

 cious expression. The dress consists chiefly in a piece of coarse camel's hair cloth, or a goat 

 skin, tied round the middle, and there is no covering for the feet or head. The language iw 

 the Arabic. The dwellings are movable tents, covered with a coarse cloth of goat's hair, or 

 camel's hair ; and there is no furniture, but a few rude dishes, utensils, and mats to sleep on 

 The common food is the milk ard fle.sb of camels ; a camel gives, daily, more than a quart of 

 105 



Killing a Panther. 



A U adcy. 



