On the 24th of May, at nine in the morning, we halted in as barren a spot as usual. The night had been calm, and the heat stifling; the fatigue we endured was augmented by the quantity of sand which fell upon us all the time we were travelling. We continued all day in a state of impatient expectation mingled with fear; the Moors, seeing our dejection and sufferings, tried to encourage us with the hope of the speedy arrival of the messengers who had been sent in search of water: vain hope! none of them returned. Despair was general; to keep up our spirits, a small quantity of water was distributed, and we were told that the delay of our messengers was not occasioned by their finding no water, but by their finding it in small quantities, so that it took longer to fill the skins; that they would have returned immediately if they had met with no water. Alas! this was a mistake, as will shortly appear. That we might not lose time in uncertain expectation, we continued our journey towards the north, at about four o’clock in the afternoon, over a firmer soil than we had lately crossed, and equally covered with quartz; we proceeded all night in silence; nobody slept however, for we were all too thirsty. The Moors who drove the camels were mute, and relieved one another oftener than usual. On the 25th, at nine in the morning, we halted in a plain of hard sand, producing a few herbs, which were speedily devoured by the camels. This plain was interspersed with hills of coarse red sand mixed with gravel. We had now only a skin and a half of water remaining for eleven persons, we had indeed more than that number with us, and the allowance was every time more and more scanty; we suffered beyond all expression. After drinking a few drops, we lay down to wait for those who were gone in search of a fresh supply. About ten in the morning the poor wretches arrived half dead with thirst, and as soon as they had been relieved, as far as our small store permitted, they told us that they had had great difficulty at first in finding the well; and that when they had reached it they were dreadfully disappointed to find it quite dry; they were by this time so tortured with thirst, that they resolved to kill a camel, that they might divide amongst them the water contained in its stomach! a poor resource, for the water was not pure, and there was very little of it. The blood of the animal would have been a great refreshment, but they durst not drink it for fear of infringing the laws of the Koran.