On Monday the 27th of September, a little before noon, we observed something in the distance, which had the appearance of a body of men moving towards us; but from the effect of the mirage assuming different shapes, and sometimes appearing twelve or fifteen feet above the surface of the desert, the Arabs declared it to be a Tuarick party on the forage, and all our followers loaded and prepared for action. On their approach, however, we found to our great joy that it was a kafila from Fezzan: they had been as much alarmed at us as we at them, and were all formed, in front of their camels several hundred yards, in extended order, as the Arabs always fight: they gave us some Fezzan dates, which were a great luxury; and some of the traders who were short of water exchanged a jar of butter, worth at least two dollars, for every full skin they could so purchase. They told us the road was perfectly safe, although their fears of falling in with the Tuaricks had detained them seventy-two days on the journey from Mourzuk. It is scarcely possible to convey an idea of the sensations of all parties on a meeting of this nature on the desert. The Arabs were equally alive to these feelings as ourselves; and, in their usual wild expressive manner, sang, for days after such a rencontre, ballads descriptive of the event[59]. We halted at noon, at a place called Gassooma-foma. In the afternoon we moved again; and the guides told me that the road was so difficult that, until the moon fell, we should make the best of our way, and then rest. On these occasions we pitched no tents, but laid the boxes together; and, either with a little boiled kouskosou, or still oftener without, soon forgot our fatigues in sleep. When we saw the black ridge that extends along the wadey of Aghadem, the negroes, female slaves, and followers, set up screams of joy, and began dancing and singing with all their might. It was almost noon when we got to the well, and several slaves, belonging to an old Shouaa who was going to Hage, were speechless from want of water; yet they ran several miles to reach the well, like things distracted, with their mouths open, and eyes starting from their heads. On the 2d of October we left Aghadem, and by the help of a blessed moon we were enabled to travel until near midnight, without losing our way. A very sharp storm of wind from the east obliged us to halt; and we had scarcely time to shelter ourselves with the skins and boxes, before it came on with most disagreeable force: this detained us until daylight, when we rose from between the hillocks of sand that had formed on each side of us in the night.