Ij6 TRAVELS IN THL 
being seen ; and continued travelling through the Wilderness, 
directing my course, by compass, nearly east-south-east, in 
order to reach, as soon as possible, some town or village of the 
kingdom of Bambarra. 
A little after noon, when the burning heat of the sun was re- 
flected with double violence from the hot sand, and the distant - 
ridges of the hills, seen through the ascending vapour, seemed 
to wave and fluctuate like the unsettled sea, I became faint with 
thirst, and climbed a tree in hopes of seeing distant smoke, or 
some other appearance of a human habitation; but in vain: 
nothing appeared all around but thick underwood, and hillocks 
of white sand. 
About four o'clock, I came suddenly upon a large herd of 
goats, and pulling my horse into a bush, I watched to observe if 
the keepers were Moors or Negroes. In a little time I perceived 
two Moorish boys, and with some difficulty persuaded them to 
approach me. They informed me that the herd belonged to 
Ali, and that they were going to Deena, where the water was 
more plentiful, and where they intended to stay, until the rain 
had filled the pools in the Desert. They shewed me their empty 
water-skins, and told me that they had seen no water in the 
woods. This account afforded me but little consolation ; how- 
ever, it was in vain to repine, and I pushed on as fast as possible, 
in hopes of reaching some watering-place in the course of the 
night. My thirst was by this time become insufferable ; my 
mouth was parched and inflamed ; a sudden dimness would fre- 
quently come over my eyes, with other symptoms of fainting ; 
and my horse being very much fatigued, I began seriously to 
