that position, and surely there can be no pains in hell greater than
those which I suffered during that space of time. The burning sand
forced itself into my garments, the pores of my skin were closed, I
hardly ventured to breathe the hot blast which was offered as the only
means of protracted existence. At last I fetched my respiration with
greater freedom, and no more heard the howling of the blast. Gradually I
lifted up my head, but my eyes had lost their power, I could distinguish
nothing but a yellow glare. I imagined that I was blind, and what chance
could there be for a man who was blind in the desert of El Tyh? Again I
laid my head down, thought of my wife and children, and abandoning
myself to despair, I wept bitterly.

The tears that I shed had a resuscitating effect upon my frame. I felt
revived, and again lifted up my head--I could see! I prostrated myself
in humble thanksgiving to Allah, and then rose upon my feet. Yes, I
could see; but what a sight was presented to my eyes! I could have
closed them for ever with thankfulness. The sky was again serene, and
the boundless prospect uninterrupted as before; but the thousands who
accompanied me, the splendid gathering of men and beasts, where were
they? Where was the Emir Hadjy and his guards? where the mamelukes, the
agas, the janissaries, and the holy sheiks? the sacred camel, the
singers, and musicians? the varieties of nations and tribes who had
joined the caravan? All perished!! Mountains of sand marked the spots
where they had been entombed, with no other monuments save here and
there part of the body of a man or beast not yet covered by the desert
wave. All, all were gone, save one; and that one, that guilty one, was
myself, who had been permitted to exist, that he might behold the awful
mischief which had been created by his presumption and his crime.

For some minutes I contemplated the scene, careless and despairing; for