BIRDS WEARISOME DESERT. 
185 
there is always another servant, or some one, who 
attempts to separate the enraged master from the 
object of his wrath. In the present instance, inter- 
ference took place in time to prevent any very serious 
consequences ; otherwise, I have no doubt the ruf- 
fians Avould go on exciting themselves, and beating 
harder and harder, even until death ensued. We 
noticed the common black bird I have already men- 
tioned, with white head and tail. It is indeed seen 
everywhere, and may emphatically be called " The 
Bird of the Desert ! " 
Next day, the 3d, we started at daybreak, and 
made another long day of nearly twelve hours. It 
is necessary to hurry over these inhospitable tracts. 
After tvfo hours w^e got among some sandhills, and 
continued all day over the same kind of ground — 
hill and valley alternating, with here and there a 
huge, isolated, granite, rock rising up like an island. 
Pebbles strewed the surface of the sandy valleys. 
I scarcely remember to have beheld so desolate 
a region. For two days there has been no water, 
and the camels have stretched out their necks in 
vain for herbage. A little grass, it is trae, was 
plucked among the sandhills to-day, and mixed 
with the dates, w-hich we are compelled to give to 
the camels. These poor beasts are becoming thin 
and gaunt, from the efiects of heat, fatigue, and 
especially from the lack of sufficient herbage. 
Luckily, cool winds from the south supply the place 
of the gheblee. 
