The face of the cliffs of the plateau was blackened as with the smoke of a huge furnace, which gave a majestic and yet gloomy appearance to the scene as we descended the pass towards the valley of El-Hasee. We found the plain strewed with great masses of dark sandstone, seeming to have been detached by some convulsion from the rocky walls, which now rose in apparently interminable grandeur behind us. We glanced back in awe, and yet in some triumph, towards the iron-bound desert we had thus safely traversed; but our eyes soon turned from so bleak a prospect, when we beheld, dotting the sandy wady, clumps of the wild palm, green copses, and the majestic ethel-tree. It was about two in the afternoon when we reached the camping-ground, all our people shouting, "_Be-Selameh el Hamadah!_" Farewell to the Hamadah! I cried out the same words in a joyful voice; for, although now that the dangers of the plateau were overcome they seemed diminished in my eyes, yet I felt that we had escaped from a most trying march with wonderful good fortune. It is difficult to convey an idea of the horror and desolation of so vast a tract of waterless and uninhabited country. They alone who have breathed the sharp air of its blank nakedness can appreciate it, or understand how any accidental delay, sickness, the bursting of the water-skins, the straying of the camels, might produce incalculable sufferings, and even death. "_Be-Selameh el Hamadah!_" then, with all my heart. "_Be-Selameh! be-Selameh!_" again rings through the caravan, as we reach at length our camping-ground, and throw ourselves at full-length under the pleasing shade. Even the camel-drivers were so fatigued, that they stretched out as soon as the command to halt was given, and let their animals stray at will, without taking the trouble to unload them. I had observed the same supineness during our halts all through this trying district, which seems to oppress their imaginations as well as prostrate their bodies. Several times I had been obliged myself to collect wood and make a fire to rally our lagging servants. Indeed, on more than one occasion I was compelled to exert my personal authority. On the third night, particularly, I wished all the people to rest one hour. The camel-drivers resisted this reasonable request, and were backed by Yusuf. When it became a question between myself and my interpreter, I jumped off my camel and stopped the caravan. The chaouch supported me, and in this case at least behaved very well. If we had continued all night, we should have made a march of sixteen hours,--too much for the blacks, and indeed for any man on his feet. On the whole, however, I have to observe, that as we approach Fezzan our camel-drivers are getting more civil and obliging. Is this the genial effect of native air, or expectation of a present? They have not mentioned the latter subject yet, but, on the contrary, promise me some dates.