On the 1st of May we had an arduous piece of work to perform. The khafilah was in motion fourteen entire hours, over heavy sand, with the hot wind breathing fiercely upon it. No amateur walking was indulged in. Every one kept sullenly to his camel; and those who were obliged to advance on foot dragged slowly along, seeming every moment as if they were about to abandon all exertion in despair, and lie down to perish. Our course lay mostly south, as usual; but varied occasionally from south-east to south-west. The scene was one of the most singular that could be imagined. Camels and men were scattered along the track, treading slowly but continually forward, and yet not seeming to advance at all. Instead of the cheering cry of "_Isa! Isa!_" which urges on the burdened beasts over rocky deserts, the dull, prolonged sound of "_Thurr! Thurr!_" was substituted. Beyond this there was no noise. The men had no strength to talk or to sing, and the tread of many feet awaken no echo in the sandy waste. Waves of red and yellow, or of dazzling whiteness, swelled round in a circle of ever-varying diameter as we rose and fell. Here and there stretched great stains of black herbage. Every object is magnified and changed to the eye. The heat and the swinging motion of the camel produce a slight dizziness, and the outer world assumes a hazy indistinctness of outline--something like dream-landscapes. There is a desert-intoxication which must be felt to be appreciated. We must not, however, libel even the Sandy Desert, by producing the impression that it is all barren and comfortless. Though far more difficult to travel over than the Hamadah, it possesses the inestimable advantage of having water every day once at least. A little after noon, indeed, we passed two lakes; one small, and the other of considerable dimensions, containing sweet water, and bordered by a fringe of palm-trees. At times there is very good herbage for the camels. The most frequent shrub on which they browse is the _resou_, which has small ears of grain, eaten also by men as food. Traces of animal life, as I have observed, are few; but we saw this day two broken ostrich-eggs. How they came there it is difficult to say: no traces or footmarks have been remarked. At length I had begun to find drinking a necessity. During these days of sand I imbibed more than during the whole of the rest of the journey. The eating of dates added to my thirst; and the blacks complained of the same thing. Dates are much better in the winter, and keep the cold out of the stomach; but I should recommend all Saharan travellers to eat as few of them as possible, at any season of the year.