COMMENCE CROSSING THE PLATEAU. 
43 
CHAPTER IV. 
Commence crossing the Hamadali — Last Pillar of the Eomans — 
Travelling in the Desert — Rapid March — Merry Blacks — Dawn — 
Temperature — Ali returns — Day-travelling — Night-feelings — Ani- 
mals — Graves of Children — Mirage — Extent of the Plateau — It 
breaks up — ^Valley of El-Hasee — Farewell to the Hamadah — Ar- 
duous Journey — The Camel -drivers — New Country — Moral and 
religious Disquisitions — The Chaouches — Reach Edree — Abd-el- 
Galeel — Description of Edree — Subterranean Dwellings — Playing 
at Powder — The Ka'id — Arabic Literature — Desertion of the Zin- 
tanah — Leave Edree — Sandy Desert — Bou Keta the Camel-driver 
— Wady El-Makmak— The Lizard— Reach Yv^ady Takadafah — Sand 
— Another Emhroglio. 
The sun v.^as setting as our caravan, which we had 
collected in as compact a body as possible, got under 
way, and rising out of the valley of Tabooneeah, 
began to enter upon the plateau. It is difficult to 
convey an idea of the solemn impressions with which 
one enters upon such a journey. Everything a-head 
is unknown, and invested with perhaps exaggerated 
terrors by imagination and report. The name of 
Desert — the waterless Desert — hangs over the hori- 
zon, and suggests the most gloomy apprehensions. 
Behind, in the fading light, the trees of the valley 
still show their dim groups ; before, the lofty level, 
slightly broken by undulations, stretches away. 
There was one cheering thought, however. My 
