On the 23rd, at ten in the morning, we halted on sandy ground, but rather more solid than what we had crossed the day before, and interspersed with rocks of rose-coloured and black granite. Our situation was still the same; the east wind blew with violence; and far from affording us any refreshment, it only threatened to bury us under the mountains of sand which it raised, and what was still more alarming, our water diminished rapidly from the extreme drought which it occasioned. Nobody suffered more intensely from thirst than the poor little slaves, who were crying for water. Exhausted by their sufferings and their lamentations, these unhappy creatures fell on the ground, and seemed to have no power to rise; but the Moors did not suffer them to continue there long when travelling. Insensible to the sufferings which childhood is so little fitted to support, these barbarians dragged them along with violence, beating them incessantly, till they had overtaken the camels, which were already at a distance. Indeed, no person was privileged; even the Moors, whose turn it was to walk by the camels, and who, partly to amuse themselves and partly to encourage the animals, sang to them as they marched by their side, were under the same law as those who were riding, and never tasted water except when it was distributed to the whole caravan. I thought I could perceive nevertheless that Sidy-Aly had under his dress a small bottle, like our hunting bottles, and that the old fox made use of it every now and then in secret to refresh himself, without any regard for his brethren. What distressed us most during this horrible day was the pillars of sand, which threatened every moment to bury us in their course. One of the largest of these pillars crossed our camp, overset all the tents, and whirling us about like straws, threw us one upon another in the utmost confusion; we knew not where we were, and could distinguish nothing at the distance of a foot. The sand wrapped us in darkness like a thick fog, and heaven and earth seemed confounded and blended into one.