The usual rate of travelling is three miles in the hour, and the number of hours that are actually employed on the rout, exclusive of those which are allotted to refreshment, is seldom more than seven or eight in a day. Of the number of days which are consumed on a long journey, many are devoted to the purpose of occasional trade, to that of recruiting the strength of the camels, and to that of procuring additional stores of provisions and of water; for in all such places as are able to furnish a supply of provisions (which are generally places of considerable population, and therefore of some traffic) the stay of the caravan is seldom less than two days, and is often prolonged to more. [Sidenote: Ben Alli.] The general food of the camels is such only as their nightly pasture affords; and is often confined to the hard and thorny shrubs of the Desart, where a sullen vegetation is created by the rains of the Winter, and upheld by the dews that descend in copious abundance through all the remainder of the year. [Sidenote: Imhammed.] Of the drivers and servants of the caravan, the customary food consists of the milk of the camel, with a few dates, together with the meal of barley or of Indian corn, which is sometimes seasoned with oil, while the Merchant superadds, for his own use, the dried flesh of the camel, or of sheep, and concludes his repast with coffee. [Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.] Water is drawn from the wells in leather buckets, that form a part of the travelling equipage of the caravan, and is carried in the skins of goats, through which, however, though tarred both within and without, it is often exhaled by the heat of the noon-day sun. [Sidenote: Ben Alli.] A particular mode of easy conveyance is provided for the women and children, and for persons oppressed with infirmity or illness: six or eight camels are yoked together in a row, and a number of tent poles are placed in parallel lines upon their backs: these are covered with carpets, and bags of corn are superadded to bring the floor to a level, as well as to soften the harshness of the camel’s movement; other carpets are then spread, and the traveller sits or lies down, with as much convenience as if he rested on a couch. The Desart (a term of the same meaning with its Arabic name of Zahara) may be said, like the ocean, to connect the very nations which it seems to separate; for, in comparison with the woods and morasses of America, it furnishes the Merchant with an easy and convenient road. [Sidenote: Ben Alli.]