e Scorpion was brilliant, if not fierce; and the
constellation on his right shone splendidly. At about eight o'clock
Jupiter was setting towards the horizon like a sun!

_29th._--We left Tesaoua at length, at three in the afternoon. The boat
and our servants had gone on before with the Tuaricks, who prefer not
travelling in the dark, if possible. We can often start after them in
this way, and catch them up by pushing on some hours after sunset. Our
course lay south this evening. The heavens, before the rising of the
moon, had a most luminous appearance; Jupiter was seen only about an
hour above the horizon, and the Milky Way was very conspicuous, but at
eight o'clock described only a small segment in the heavens.

We reached Sharaba at eight, and halted. This is a sandy valley, with
herbage for the camels; the water, not very good, is a few feet from the
surface, and issues from some rocks. There are no date-palms about the
well, as reported, but a few stunted ones are found a mile or two higher
up. The surface of the desert is broken into small mounds, crowned with
the ethel-tree.

Sunday, the 30th, was a cool day for the desert, yet sufficiently hot
for me. We left Sharaba at a quarter past six in the morning, and made a
good day of nine hours. These confounded Tuaricks will travel in the
heat, and encamp in the cool. At three in the afternoon, just as the
weather was becoming quite fresh and pleasant, we halted. The wind,
occasionally strong, blew from the north-east, whilst our course lay
south-west, across a broad valley. The sandy ground is covered with the
tholukh-tree, which affords a grateful shade in the season. This valley
is very broad here, only one side being visible at once to the eye.

The Tuaricks are growing civil enough, and companionable. Luckily
Hateetah and the son of Shafou do not drink coffee or tea--a saving.
Hateetah, however, is always begging; he says he will go to Aheer, and
appears to consider his escort indispensable. According to him, the
Germans, who are pushing on ahead, run great danger. Yusuf tells me that
he is, in reality, extremely angry with my companions for proceeding
alone. He wishes, perhaps, to get a present from them too; and swears
that he knows nobody but Yak[=o]b (my desert name). They are not
English, he says, but French. Besides, they have got twenty camel-loads
of goods, which he will seize if they do not pay him something. Of
course this is all harmless bluster, an