Just before we left the wells of Telig, we had been forced to kill two of these animals, which could go no further, and were dying of fatigue; the flesh was distributed among all who wished for it, and we had some for our supper. Part of it was boiled, and the rice which was cooked with it contracted the odious taste of the camels’ flesh, which I disliked extremely. The Moors ate this meat with the greatest avidity, and said that it was excellent, but I was not at all of their opinion, for I thought it very tough, and the little I ate disagreed with me; this might however be owing in part to the brackish water I had drunk. This was nevertheless one of the most comfortable nights I had passed since I had been in the desert; I lay down by a patch of grass, and the heat seemed to me less overwhelming than on the preceding days, which I ascribed to the vicinity of the wells. The soil was covered with grey quartz, striped with a dirty white, mixed with which were several kinds of small gravel. On the 28th at sun-rise, we were on our way in a northwesterly direction amongst quartz rocks; here and there upon the ruins of sand grew a few withered herbs which the camels browsed as they passed. About ten we crossed a soil covered with small black gravel, and varied by sandhills extending from east to west; this sand was harder and yellower than what we had seen the day before; in some places we found grey gravel and several rocks of black and grey granite. At half past ten we halted to rest our camels, which were all very weary, and they were fortunate enough to find a few thorny plants[18] which they amused themselves with cropping. These plants have short and flexible leaves; the thorn is short but very hard; by the wise providence of Nature this plant, the only resource of the animals of the desert, has the property of remaining green all the year round, in spite of the burning east winds which so frequently prevail; the camels though not very delicate would refuse the dry leaves. This plant is very tenacious of life, throws out long roots on the surface of the ground, and does not grow to the height of more than eighteen inches; it is found in sandy places, and I have generally observed that it is most abundant on the west side of the hills. The roots are thick and serve for fuel; the Moors use it to cook their provisions, and at sun-set the slaves went to collect it, to boil our scanty portion of rice with water and salt, to which they added melted butter for sauce; this was our frugal supper. My portion was set apart for me in a little calabash: for the Moors did not chuse to eat with me after they had discovered that I had had the scurvy; they held me in utter abhorrence. In spite of the pains which I took to study their habits and customs, they observed that I could never eat rice as they did, making it into a little ball in the hand and tossing it into the mouth; when they meant to insult me, therefore, they always told me that I ate