Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 75, No. 462, April 1854Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 75, No. 462, April 1854
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
‘Then what evidence have you for the truth of those marvellous
apparitions?’
_Cadi._—‘Every one believes in all I have told you.’
‘Is it not possible that all this belief may be the result of the
fevered imagination of some superstitious individual?’
_Cadi._—‘It certainly is possible,—but all believe it.’”
This wonderful “sea” is a vast lake, dry for about nine months of the
year, extending about seventy miles in length, by forty broad at its
widest part. It receives several streamlets, such as the _Ras Elain_ of
Nefta; and, during the rainy season, the torrents from the mountains
which on two sides at least adjoin it. During the winter, portions of
the lake-bed retain for a short time the waters thus poured into it; but
during the greater part of the year, a deposit of salt only is visible
on its sandy surface. It abounds in marshes, quicksands, and trap-pits;
and at no time can it be crossed save by a single route, which is
pointed out by trunks of palm-trees, placed at short distances,—and
hence its proper name, _the Lake of Marks_. Tufts of very sickly-looking
grass, and mounds clothed with consumptive shrubs, fringed its shores at
the time our travellers visited it; and its surface was wavy, and
covered with saline incrustations. Towards the north-east part of the
lake there is a kind of island, about four miles in circumference, which
is covered with palm-trees. The Arabs say that those trees have grown up
from the kernels left there by Pharaoh’s troops,—and this they regard as
an additional proof that the Egyptian monarch and his army perished
there!
At last the three weeks’ stay at Tozar drew to a close, and a most
lovely night was that which preceded their departure. Mr Davis seldom
indulges in scenic description; and we give the following as a rare and
charming picture of a night-scene in the Desert:—
“At half-past ten, when every inmate of my establishment had retired
to rest,—the tranquillity, the universal stillness, and balmy
atmosphere seemed to invite me to leave my tent again. All was serene
and calm without, and everything appeared to inspire the mind with
serious and sober reflection.
‘Nature was hush’d, as if her works adored,
Still’d by the presence of her living Lord.’
The sultry heat of the day had now ceased, and a cool northerly breeze
gently waved the branches of the stately palm-trees. The darkness
gradually vanished before the bright rays of the moon, whose silvery
light streamed through the forest; and in a few minutes, she rode high
above the loftiest of its countless trees, and by her splendour and
brilliancy so illuminated every object around, that day appeared again
perfectly restored. And the stars, too,—
‘Those quenchless stars! so eloquently bright.
Untroubled sentries of the shadowy night,’—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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