THE MIRAGE. 
1^5 
feathers only. That it might be the less fatigued with the 
journey, I was never allowed to mount it while it was on 
its knees; one of the Moors was commissioned by Sidi- 
Aly to help me to mount ; and, for the reasons above stated, 
this Moor was very ill-natured, and took every opportunity 
of playing me a trick which might raise a laugh amongst 
his companions at my expense. At nightfall, rice was 
cooked for our supper. We had nothing before that 
but a little dokhnou and water to refresh us ; as the roots 
of this plant were scarce, the slaves were sent to pick up 
camel's dung for fuel though the wind quickly effaces 
their footsteps, it is always easy to track them by the great 
quantity of their excrement. 
At ten in the evening, we broke up, and proceeded 
towards the N. W. The soil, which was as unvaried as ever, 
was covered on the surface by quartz. The night was calm, 
and the heat stifling. 
On the 30th of May, we halted at eleven in the morning, 
and found some herbage, which supplied the camels with 
food during that day and part of the succeeding night. 
On the 31st, at two in the morning, we continued our 
journey in the same direction. The soil was sandy, and 
covered with hills of loose yellow sand. In crossing the 
desert, I perceived, at a distance, immense tracts, which had 
the appearance of rivers or lakes, with islands of sand rising 
in the midst of them ; they presented themselves to the eye, 
in the horizon of the desert, as places where one might quench 
one's thirst. This prospect broke for a time the uniformity 
of these vast deserts ; on approaching, I was cruelly disap- 
pointed, for the water vanished, and I saw nothing but loose 
sand where I had hoped to quench my thirst. This illusion 
only rendered my situation more dreadful, when I was con- 
sumed with thirst, and saw the sea receding before me as 
by enchantment. It is impossible to form any correct idea 
of a mirage without having seen one. 
