108 
THE CARAVAN ENTERS THE DESERT. 
CHAPTER XXITl. 
Violence of the east winds. — Pillars of sand. — Scarcity of water. — De- 
plorable situation of the caravan. — ^Hills of loose sand. — Rocks of 
granite.— Wells of Telig. — Toudeyni, rich salt mines. — Thistle of the 
desert. — Vexations and persecutions of the Moors, their intolerance. — 
Wells of Crames. — Well of Trasas or Trarzas. — Trajacant Moors. — 
We continued our route to the north a little west^ through 
a district uniformly arid, interspersed with little sand-hills, 
in a direction from east to west. The east wind had now 
subsided, and the heat was excessive on account of the 
calm. We were tormented with thirst, for we only drank 
once in the course of the day. I derived some benefit from 
the care I took, after the example of the Moors, to fasten 
a strip of cotton cloth over my eyes, and another over my 
mouth to keep off the burning air which parched my lungs. 
In the course of the day, we had passed over grey and 
red gravel in many places. Towards half past five we 
halted on unvaried sand ; and a large calabash of water mixed 
with dokhnou was brought to us. We had eaten nothing all 
day, and yet we felt no need of food ; for the dokhnou is 
very nourishing, and the burning thirst with which we were 
tormented had taken away every thing like hunger. A 
Moor was sent to take care of the camels, which were wan- 
dering here and there in search of a few blades of grass . 
About ten at night, we had some rice cooked, which 
we ate with melted butter; but it made me very thirsty. 
I begged for a little water; but old Aly, my guide, who 
had remained behind, no doubt that he might drink as 
much as he liked himself without being seen, came up at 
the moment they were preparing to give me the water, and 
