Towards noon we halted; the burning heat was augmented by a scorching wind from the east. My thirst was excessive, but I had no means of quenching it; my companions told me, to comfort me, that we should soon come to wells. In fact, the wells of Cramès are in this part of the desert; and we hoped to find water there; but alas! they were dry. These wells are situated near a chain of hills extending from N. N. W. towards south. At intervals, we came to a few tufts of herbage; the only trace of vegetation which is to be found here. We pitched our tents, and sheltered ourselves under them from the burning wind; we had a very short allowance of water dealt out to us, on account of the impossibility of procuring more. The soil in this part is composed of hard sand, mingled with gravel; the east wind blew with such violence, that all our tents were overturned. About sunset, we had an alarm; the camel-drivers at a distance from the camp, saw some Moors, whom they took for banditti; they came to us, calling out, “To arms! to arms!” The whole camp was immediately on the alert; every one flew to arms, and hastened to meet the supposed enemy. I saw some of our party tremble, which made me presume that the danger was great. No person was left in the camp besides three or four old marabouts, the slaves and myself; they fell forthwith to prayers, and gave me a little water and a piece of camel’s flesh, I suppose to propitiate Heaven. For my part, I was not less uneasy than the Moors; I speculated sorrowfully upon what would be our lot, if we lost our camels, our only resource in the desert. We shall die in this horrid country, thought I, for we are too distant to receive help from any quarter; and as a climax to misfortunes, our provision of water is exhausted. In fact, a few of the camels had returned, but the greater number were grazing out of the camp. In the course of an hour, I beheld, to my great satisfaction, our intrepid warriors returning; and they informed us, with an air of triumph, that the robbers had disappeared. All the evening the camp was in a tumult; and there was a long deliberation what was to be done for want of water. It was an object to set off at night to avoid the heat of the day; but our prudent companions were afraid of being attacked on their way; it was even suggested, that the robbers might have taken possession of the wells, at which we were to arrive the next day. Sentinels were appointed, and a watch was kept for a mile round the camp.