CHAPTER XL. 
SKIRTING THE DESERT 
T he second day’s march passed off more quietly, 
and in a much more orderly manner. Profiting 
from our first day’s experiences, we weighed and distributed 
the packages more successfully, and loaded our most 
precious possessions — first amongst them the water — on 
the quietest camels. I myself sat perched at a pretty 
good height above the ground, and had a splendid view 
in every direction. At first the motion made me feel 
somewhat giddy ; but I soon became accustomed to the 
monotonous and unceasing jolting backwards and forwards, 
combined with the peculiar swaying motion from side to 
side, and suffered no ill effects from it whatever. But I 
can readily believe it would be very disagreeable to 
anybody subject to sea-sickness. 
H aving left behind us the last house and field belonging 
to Merket, we struck into a level steppe {diishi), where 
thickets and tangled bushes grew pretty well everywhere, 
and there w'ere even clumps of poplars in a few places. 
The wind blew in gusts from the west-north-west, and 
greyish-yellow “ sand-.spouts ” drifted eastwards at a great 
altitude, their upper ends slightly bent over in the direc- 
tion of the wind. The surface of the ground was partly 
covered with fine, .soft dust, partly with deposits of salt ; 
but we soon passed into a region of nothing but sand, 
blown up into small low dunes or ridges. However, it 
proved to be only a narrow belt, for on the other side 
we once more came upon plenteous plant -life, chiefly 
kamish (reeds) and poplars ; and there on the brink of 
the ravine we pitched our camp for the night. 
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