110 
VIOLENT EAST WIND. 
tioii, and that 1 should take his advice. During this con- 
versation, which was followed up on my part by many pain- 
ful reflections, the east wind increased; it was no longer 
a time for talking of one's affairs, but every one lay down 
to sleep, as we intended to travel .during the night. My 
eyes never closed, and I lay wide awake. The east wind 
continued till sunset and then changed to the west; though 
its force was abated, it hardly incommoded us less, for 
it still blew up a great quantity of sand. 
At five o'clock we had a calabash of dokhnou, and then 
lay down again till nine, when we started. We marched 
all night ; and the calm was stifling, for the west wind had 
ceased. The country through which we travelled was quite 
level and absolutely barren. The slow and unvaried step of 
the camel made me drowsy. 1 laid my head upon my bag, 
and slept a little. 
On the 21st, at ten o'clock in the morning, we halted. 
The burning east wind which was beginning to blow rendered 
the heat insuff'erable, and the scorching sand found its way 
into our eyes, in spite of the precautions which we took to 
exclude it. We pitched our tents, and tepid water was 
distributed, which we thought delicious though it had little 
effect in quenching our thirst ; after we had drunk it, we 
stretched ourselves on the sand to repose. Notwithstanding 
all the precautions I had taken, the heat was so intense and 
my thirst so tormenting, that I found it impossible to get any 
sleep ; my throat was on fire and my tongue clave to the roof 
of my mouth. 1 lay as if expiring on the sand, waiting with 
the greatest impatience for the moment when we were to 
have our next supply of water ; I thought of nothing but 
water — rivers, streams, rivulets, were the only ideas that 
presented themselves to my mind during this burning fever; 
in my impatience I cursed my companions, the country, the 
camels, and for anything I know the sun himself, who did 
not make sufficient speed to reach the horizon. 
