of Mourzuk. In three hours the white line of cliffs came in view,
looking like a stretch of black-blue sea, contrasting strangely with the
sparkling white-sand undulations that stretched to their feet. Some of
us thought that an inland sea--never before heard of--had rolled its
waters athwart our path, so perfect was the illusion. The heavens, this
day particularly, attracted our attention. What a sky! how beautiful!
The ground was a soft, light azure; and on its mildly resplendent
surface were scattered loosely about some downy, feathery clouds, of the
purest white--veils manufactured in celestial looms!

We expected to reach our premeditated halting ground about noon, or
before, these cliffs seeming so near. But as day wore on, new expanses
of glittering desert seemed to stretch out before us; and every hillock
gained disclosed only the existence of new hillocks ahead. Meanwhile the
hot wind still blew with unremitting violence, scorching our faces, and
penetrating to the inmost recesses of our frames. The poor blacks, who
were on foot, gazed wistfully ahead, and ever and anon called to those
who were nodding on the camels, as if stunned by the heat, to tell them
if they might hope for rest. I found my eyesight dimming, and deafness
coming on. The thermometer was plunged into the sand, and the mercury
instantly mounted to above 130°.

At length we sighted the wady, stretching like a green belt between the
sand and the mountains beyond. We found that we had been traversing an
elevated swell of the desert, for we were full three quarters of an hour
descending to the level of the valley.

The first specimen of inhabitants we saw on arriving was a group of
naked children with their mother, who covered herself up in her barracan
on our approach. The children were nearly all females, and even those of