after he had started on his way to Aheer. The imperfection
is the less to be regretted, as, up to this point, the
Sahara had previously been pretty well travelled and
described. He now breaks fresh ground, and is more copious
in his notes.--ED.




CHAPTER XI.

Start from Ghât--Reflections--Beautiful Valley of Berket--Last
Date-palms--The Kailouees--Dr. Barth lost again--Meet our Guides--The
Akourou Water--Ghadeer--Soudan Influence on the Tuaricks--Wataitee
leaves us--Oasis of Janet--Kailouee Character--A sick Slave--Rocky
Desert--Gloomy Scene--Servants--Egheree Water--Ajunjer--A threatened
Foray from Janet--Sidi Jafel Waled Sakertaf--We have no Money--Region of
Granite--Dr. Barth's Comparisons--A Slave Caravan--Granite
Rocks--Beating Women--The Bird of the Desert--Desolate Region--Our
Relations with the Kailouees.


The departure from Ghât was, for most of us, an exciting moment. So far
I had considered myself comparatively on familiar ground; for although I
had followed different routes, the great points of Mourzuk and Ghât were
well known to me. Now, however, we were about to enter upon a
region totally unknown, of which no authentic accounts from
eye-witnesses--unless we count the vague reports of natives--had ever
reached us; valleys unexplored; deserts unaffronted; countries which no
European had ever surveyed. Before us, somewhere in the heart of the