DESERT. 
77 
peaks of the most fantastic shapes. The plain itself, 
from the effects of mirage, appeared to be covered with 
forests, fields of waving corn, and studded with 
villages and towns, and here and there an extensive 
sheet of water. So very deceptive were the appear- 
ances that I heard our camp followers congratulating 
each other on having got over the desert. 
Of course the lakes and everything else disappeared 
as we advanced, and the plain was found to be a level 
waste of sand mixed with angular fragments of gneiss, 
slate, sandstone, and limestone. We encamped on 
this plain at an altitude of about 1 7,300 feet, in what 
appeared to be the dry bed of a stream. We obtained 
plenty of water by digging holes in the sand, and 
there being no grass, our horses and sheep began to 
browse the " Burtsi" plant, which grew here rather 
sparingly ; but after a few days of this food the flesh 
of the sheep we killed was almost uneatable. I 
noticed here what appeared to be a large flock of 
plover, but failed to secure a specimen. Antelopes 
were also reported to have been seen by some of our 
camp followers. With these exceptions no animal 
life was seen. We now experienced great discomfort 
from the high wind, which almost every day begins 
to blow from the west or south-west about 10 a.m.; 
it increases to a hurricane towards the afternoon, then 
gradually subsides, and by midnight the air is again 
still. 
Travellers have not unfrequently been killed by 
this wind, which at times is so cold as to destroy 
vitality in a very short time. Both men and horses 
now suffered greatly from the rarity of the air. 
Some of our men lay down on the open plain, com- 
