564 PASSAGE ACROSS THE DESERT. 
great annoyance of the camels. The only vegetable productions 
which I saw, were a few stunted Mimosas, an Artemisia, which is 
probably the Absinthium of Bruce, an Echium with a purple blos- 
som, and an elegant but leafless Spartium, with a purple and white 
blossom. Chedid dined with us ; but he complained of the effects 
of the cherry-brandy, and would take neither wine nor spirits. The 
Emir fired a gun at night, as he had done in the morning, before 
he moved from his station. 
February 15. — At six precisely the gun of the Emir warned us 
to mount. Our camels were evidently fatigued, and we did not 
reach our halting place till five, though it was not above twenty- 
two miles. The road was more winding than yesterday. From the 
time that we quitted the wells, till half after four this day, we had 
been gradually ascending ; at that hour we reached the highest 
point, and beheld a descent before us, which led to the fertile plain 
of Egypt, dark with verdure, through which the Nile was winding 
its course. The whole was a beautiful scene, and appeared still more 
so, from the contrast formed by the arid foreground of the Desert. 
The day had been by no means sultry, and as all danger was 
supposed to be over, every person who wished it, procured a horse. 
My friend the Emir sent to offer me one of his, but I declined ac- 
cepting it. Chedid had parted with us early in the day, and gone 
on to his own residence, which was distant a few miles. He left a 
message for me, with his chief officer, requesting that I would not 
pitch my own tent, but occupy his, as it was intended we should 
set off again at midnight, he having heard that the robbers meant 
to follow, and attack us in the morning. I complied, though assured 
by Mr. Thomaso, that the whole was a trick to get us into Cairo as 
