At four o’clock in the morning of the 10th, we continued our progress northward; and climbed a steep hill of granite with much difficulty, finding no beaten track. The soil we traversed was broken by hillocks of black gravel, and by sharp rocks: the country offered not the smallest sign of vegetation. Towards nine in the morning we descended into a plain, where we found a little grass, and some very stunted _mimosa ferruginea_. Here we rested to let our camels graze, and killed one, which, quite overcome with the heat, could carry the baggage no longer: its flesh was distributed amongst the people of the caravan, and made us a very indifferent supper, but for want of better we were obliged to eat it. On the 11th we proceeded at four in the morning. If my inclinations had been consulted, the journey would have been delayed till sunrise, for I was much fatigued by rising every day so early. I was so sleepy that it was with much difficulty I could keep my seat upon my camel. I frequently called to mind that the only chance of surviving the journey lay in hastening our march; this idea supported my courage, and restored my exhausted strength: I confess nevertheless, that I envied the fate of those who can purchase fame at a cheaper rate than by such painful trials and continually recurring dangers. We still travelled northward over a dry soil resembling that which we had traversed on the preceding day. As we advanced in this direction, the heat gradually diminished, and our thirst became less intolerable. About ten o’clock we halted; the tent was pitched, and I lay down in the hope of obtaining a little rest: next to thirst, the greatest torment I suffered arose from the fatiguing necessity of rising at all hours of the night, to pursue our journey. On the 12th, at two in the morning, still half asleep, I mounted my camel and we resumed our route northward, over a level, hard and stony soil: I saw some mimosas scattered in the plain at great distances apart, without any other sign of vegetation. About nine, we descended, through a very narrow path, into a deep ravine, surrounded by enormous blocks of granite, of a pink and various other colours, in strata of eighteen or twenty inches thick. The camels, fatigued with so bad a road, had much difficulty in descending amongst these rocks. It was ten A. M., when we halted at the wells of el-Ekseif, situated at the very bottom of the ravine. These wells, or springs, are shaded by a pretty grove of palm-trees of beautiful appearance; such at least is the impression produced by the contrast of this umbrageous and refreshing spot with the desolation that reigns around, and with the bare and arid region which we had just crossed; a few reeds and some rushes also grow round about.