58 
THE TRACK OVEH THE SAND. 
continue with us to Mourzuk. I wished to dis- 
courage such acts of desertion, for they produce 
always a bad effect. My German companions 
seemed giad to get rid of him. 
We started again on Sunday morning (the 28th). 
This was our first day of sand. We had almost for- 
gotten that there was such a thing as sand in the 
desert ; but we shall have two days more of the 
same kind of travelling, to keep us in mind of this 
unpleasant truth. However, we were glad enough 
to leave Edree. Our marabout, comparing this 
place with El-Wady, for which we are now journey- 
ing, says, "Edree is like a jackass; El-Wady is 
like a camel !" Yusuf calls Edree " the city of 
camel-bugs." These vermin are the leeches of the 
camels. Daring the morning we passed two or 
three forests of palms, and afterwards traversed a 
flat valley, where was a little herbage. The people 
said : " There is no tareek (track) : the tareek is in 
our heads." Bou Keta noted the route in many 
parts by the presence of camels' dung ; but the 
shape of the sandhills in these parts seems to be 
perfectly familiar to these men. We saw one or 
two lizards, but no birds or other signs of life, ex- 
cept two brown-black Fezzanees, trudging over the 
desert. 
At four in the-afternoon, after a day of hot wind, 
we encamped in Wady Guber, where there is water 
two or three feet below the surface ; and a small 
