4(> Account Alexakdeii Scott’s Captivity 
when very hot, they stopped at 2 or 3 o’clock for the day. 
Scott was of opinion, that the distance travelled was generally 
twenty miles, and seldom less than fifteen miles a-day. 
In all this journey, they did not pass through, nor did they 
see any thing that could be called a town, nor any permanent 
habitations of any kind, until they reached the lake. They 
did not pass near, nor did they cross any high mountains. 
They did not meet with any large river or stream which was 
not fordable. They frequently met other parties like them- 
selves, who all spoke Arabic, which Scott now began to under- 
stand tolerably well ; but many of them spoke also another lan- 
guage. 
During the journey those who chose rode on the camels ; the 
women and children often did : Scott was permitted to do so 
sometimes. Scott’s occupation was chiefly to attend to his master’s 
sheep and goats, in which he was assisted by one of his master’s 
daughters ; and at night he was employed in grinding or bruis- 
ing barley between two flat stones. The Arabs fared very 
scantily, and Scott still worse. His feet and legs were blistered 
by the burning sand : he was cruelly beaten for trifling faults, 
and if he slept too long in the morning, he was beaten with a 
cudgel. The whole party were often short of water ; and at 
one time, when travelling over the hard ground near the salt 
and brimstone mines, they were in great distress, having been 
six days without any water. Their resource then was the milk 
of their goats and camels; and they frequently collected the urine 
of the latter, as a drink in this extremity, or preserved what water 
was found in the stomach of those that died. The urine of the 
camel is ocasionally taken as a purgative medicine. It is usually 
given for three successive mornings, and operates much on the 
bowels. The Arabs did not take breakfast ; they generally had 
only one meal a day, and that after sunset. It consisted usually of 
goat’s milk and a thick porridge of barley flour; but if they had no 
corn, they drank the milk of their goats and camels, and ate the 
flesh of the camel, whether the animal died a natural death, or 
was killed accidentally or on purpose. They even occasionally 
devoured the hide of the camel, which is tough and thick. It 
is first beaten quite thin between two stones, and then it is roast- 
ed, A large fire of wood is kindled on the ground, the glowing 
