DEPARTURE FROM TIMBUCTOO. 
87 
CHAPTER XXII. 
Departure from Timbuctoo on the 41h of May, 1828. — Caravan of six 
hundred camels. — Entrance of the desert. — Suffocating heat. — The 
caravan falls in w^ith the Tooariks. — Manner in which the Arabs di- 
rect their course in the desert. — Aspect of Sahara, like the bed of a sea 
without water. — Details respecting the caravans. — The place where 
Major Laing was assassinated. — El-Arawan, a city in the desert ; its 
springs, population, and trade. — Information respecting Tawat and 
Walet. — Caravan of four hundred camels. — Disheartening effect of the 
view of endless sands. 
On parting with my host, 1 thanked him for his generous 
hospitahty : though he had often declared that all the care 
he took of me was for the love of God and the prophet, I 
offered him the woollen wrapper which I bought at Kakondy, 
and which had been so useful to me during my long illness 
at Time ; I also offered him the satala or vase which I used 
for my ablutions. Contrary to my expectation, this excel- 
lent man declined receiving my offered presents, observ- 
ing that I should want those articles in the course of my 
journey, and that I ought not to be deprived of them. 
At last, overcome by my solicitations, he consented to ac- 
cept themj but, the day before my departure, he, in his 
turn, presented me with a cotton wrapper manufactured in 
the Soudan, and vrhich was of equal value vrith the one I 
had given him. He added to this handsome present a new 
cotton coussabe also, that I might have a change of dress on 
my journey. This was not all, he presented me with a stock 
of provisions sufficient to last till I reached El-Arawan ; and 
he paid all the expenses of my journey to that place, warmly 
recommending me to one of the inhabitants, who was his 
