A DESPERATE MARCH 
589 
of safety were now concentrated. We steered our course 
straight for the solitary tree, taking the utmost precautions 
not to lose its bearings. Every time we dipped into the 
hollow between two sand-dunes we of course lost sight 
of it ; but immediately we climbed the next dune, there 
it was still before us, and we were approaching nearer and 
nearer to it ! At length we reached it. Our first act was 
to thank God for brinmne us so far safe. 
o o 
We revelled in the fresh greenne.ss of the tree, and like 
animals chewed away at its sappy leaves. It was really 
alive. Its roots evidently went down to the water 
stratum ; we were now within reasonable distance of open 
water. The tamarisk shot up from the top of a sand- 
dune, and there was not a yard of flat hard ground to be 
seen anywhere near it. A strange existence these tama- 
risks ( Tamarix elon^ata) lead. Their branches and tough, 
elastic stems, seldom exceeding seven feet in height, are 
bathed in burning sunshine ; while their roots penetrate 
to an almost incredible depth, and like syphons suck up 
nourishment from the subterranean supplies of moisture. 
In fact that solitary tree reminded me of a water-lily swim- 
ming as it were on the billowy surface of the desert ocean. 
Merely to look at the tamarisk was a pleasure, and to 
stretch our parched and weary limbs beneath its sparse 
shade for a little was rapture indeed. It was the olive- 
branch, telling us that there was an end to the sandy 
ocean after all — the outermost islet of the Skargard* or 
skerry fence, proclaiming to the shipwrecked mariners the 
near proximity of the coast. I gathered a handful of 
leaves, which were not unlike the needles of the pine, and 
thoroughly enjoyed the sweet fresh scent they gave off. 
My hopes now rose higher than they were before, and 
with our courage renewed we again pushed on towards 
the east. 
By this the dunes had decreased in height, reaching not 
much above thirty feet. In one of the hollows we came 
across two small, scanty patches of kamish or reeds 
{Lasiagrostes splendens)\ we plucked the wiry stalks and 
* The belt of islands which fringes the eastern coast of Sweden. 
