360 
MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY. 
smoke of some village, or the traces of human ha- 
bitations, but nothing appeared on the level hori- 
zon, but thick underwood and hillocks of white 
sand. The leaves of the trees which he chewed 
were bitter, but were devoured by the horse ; and, 
as his fate seemed now inevitable, he took off the 
bridle, and, exhausted with fatigue, and affected 
with sickness and giddiness, sunk upon the sand 
in a state of insensibility. Recovering at length, 
he found the bridle in his hand ; and, as the sun 
was sinking beneath the horizon, determined to 
make another exertion. As the darkness increas- 
ed, he perceived some flashes of lightning, which 
indicated rain ; the wind immediately began to 
roar among the bushes ; and, when he opened his 
mouth to receive the drops, he found himself co- 
vered with a shower of sand. In a little while the 
sand ceased to fly, and the expected shower arriv- 
ed, when Mr Park spread out his clothes to col- 
lect the rain, and, by wringing and sucking them, 
quenched his thirst. Directing his way by the 
compass, which the flashes of lightning enabled 
him to view, he reached a Moorish watering-place 
about midnight, and, avoiding their tents, disco- 
vered some shallow muddy pools of water, by what 
he emphatically terms the heavenly music of the 
frogs, that completely covered the surface of the 
pools. Next day he arrived at Shrilla, a Foulah 
village, subject to Ludamar, where the Dooty re- 
