Chap, LXXXV. RUGGED PASSAGES. 
441 
marched about fifteen miles, and again halted for the 
heat of the day. On this march we passed a very 
rugged passage, called Thniye e' seghira," where the 
rocks were rippled in a very remarkable manner, like 
the water. Having been accustomed to an intense de- 
gree of heat for some time, we felt it very cold this 
morning at sunrise, the thermometer indicating 68°, 
which was certainly a great difference, it having been 
81° the preceding morning. 
Again we started, a little after midnight, 
and having passed, early in the morning, with 
considerable difficulty and long delay, the rugged 
sandy passage called ^' Thniye el kebira," we halted, 
after a march of eight hours and a half, having ac- 
complished only a distance of about fifteen miles. 
I felt greatly exhausted, and I was the more sensible 
of fatigue, as I had a long march before me, the well 
being still distant; and after a most toilsome and 
wearisome stretch of more than eighteen miles, with 
numerous delays, and several difficult passages over 
the sandhills, we reached the well " Mesheru," which 
is notorious on account of the number of bones of 
the unfortunate slaves by which it is surrounded. 
The water of this well, which is five fathoms in 
depth, is generally considered of good quality, not- 
withstanding the remnant of human bones which are 
constantly driven into it by the gale ; but at present 
it was rather dirty. The whole country around 
presents a very remarkable spectacle, especially the 
tract closely bordering on the well to the north, 
