_11th._--Rose early, but did not start till near noon, to give the camels more rest. Old Sahara looks absolutely pretty with the dark shrubs bespotting and besprinkling his white shining sand-hills. The heavens are strewn with soft flaky light clouds; the blue above is clear and profound, and what other colours there are, look fresh and fair. Our people catch the lighter and more exhilarating influence, and are more talkative to-day. Descending to grosser matters, they are joking about how much of the camel's meat they are to swallow for supper. A part of the ghafalah left us, as the main body would not start early, thinking to arrive a couple of days before us in Ghat. I loaded and wished to go on with them, despising my friend Fletcher's advice. They insisted I should not accompany them, but come on with the larger body of people. I was obliged to return, and it happened for the best. This was a short day's march, but wrote no journal. The advanced party excused themselves for not letting me go with them, by saying, "We are going amongst the Touaricks our friends for a few days, and you will arrive first." I mentioned this to our party, who say, "_They're liars._ Are you so foolish, Yâkob, as to believe every thing a _Mussulman_ tells you?" _12th._--Rose and started with the earliest rays of the Saharan sun. Scenery as usual; but the ranges of Saharan hills assuming a more battlemental shape, and darker, blacker colour. Fast approaching the inhabited districts; saw the traces of a route to Fezzan, on which the foot-prints of sheep were visible. Saw some inhabited mountains at a considerable distance, but no peculiar feelings started in the mind, and I grow weary of the journey. A dull drear and long day. Overtook the advanced portion of our ghafalah, and had the laugh at them. We asked them, whether they had seen their good friends the Touaricks? whether they had brought us fresh eggs, milk, and a whole sheep? We, of course, begging our portion of the rich spoil. The people now told me to place my tent within the circle of the encampment, as we were getting near the inhabited districts. I usually encamped at a short distance from the centre of confusion in the ghafalah, and found it more quiet. As to fear, I had none, and slept more soundly in the open Desert than in any part of the world where I had travelled before.