SUFFERINGS FROM THIRST. 109 
peremptorily countermanded it. This was only a prelude 
to the annoyance he afterwards caused me. 
On the 20th of May, at five in the morning, we continued 
our course to the north, the country being of the same na- 
ture, as that which we traversed the day before. About 
ten o'clock we halted in a place which was absolutely bare. 
The heat was beginning to be excessive, and we hastened 
to stretch the covering (a tanned sheep-skin which served 
for a tent) under which we collected for the rest of the day. 
We had each a calabash of water containing about three bot- 
tles which we swallowed at a draught ; but this tepid water 
only filled the stomach without quenching our thirst: I 
would fain have drunk oftener, and a smaller quantity 
at a time, but the Moors who presided over the distribution 
of the water would not hear of this new arrangement, and 
adhered to the old practice. 
The poor negro slaves, accustomed to a fertile country, 
suffered from this way of life, but they were no worse off 
than the rest of us ; we were all on an equality. 
It was not yet noon, and we were to have nothing to 
eat or drink till five in the evening. The heat was excessive 
and the east wind raised a great quantity of sand, as it had 
done most days; we suffered dreadfully. At the moment 
when I was thinking of nothing but the present calamity, 
old Aly came to inform me that the water-skins which 
Sidi-Abdallahi of Timbuctoo had given me were not large 
enough, and that our provision of water would not last long if 
we were not extremely economical. The rogue was right; 
for whilst I had three skins for my share, he and his compa- 
n io had only two small ones a-piece, and there were nine 
persons to be supplied for a week. I was certainly entitled 
to forbid their making use of my stock; but what should I 
have been the better if I had ? they would have drunk the 
water, and told me the east wind had dried it up, I an- 
swered therefore that I was obliged to Aly for his informa- 
