216 
This attack of thirst is perceived all of a sudden by 
an extreme aridity of the skin; the eyes appear to be 
bloody, the tongue and mouth both inside and outside 
are covered with a crust of the thickness of a crown 
piece; this crust is of a dark yellow colour, of an in- 
sipid taste, and of a consistence like the soft wax from 
a beehive. A faintness or languor takes away the pow- 
er to move; a kind of knot in the throat and dia- 
phragm, attended with great pain, interrupts respira- 
tion. Some wandering tears escape from the eyes, and 
at last the sufferer drops down to the earth, and in a few 
moments loses all consciousness. These are the symp- 
toms which I remarked in my unfortunate fellow tra- 
vellers, and which I experienced myself. 
. I got with difficulty on my horse again, and we pro- 
ceeded on our journey. My Beduins and my faithful 
Salem were gone in different directions to find out some 
water, and two hours afterwards they returned one after 
another, carrying along with them some good or bad wa- 
ter, as they had been able to find it; every one presented 
to me part of what he had brought; I was obliged to taste 
it, and I drank twenty times, but as soon as I swallowed 
it my mouth became as dry as before; at last I was not 
able either to spit or to speak. 
At seven in the evening we halted near a douar and 
a brook, after having made a forced march of two and 
twenty hours, without a moment's intermission. 
All my people and baggage at last arrived one after 
another, during the night, and I found I had sustained 
no loss. The caravan of Sidi Alarbi had met them 
successively, and saved the men as well as the beasts 
i 
