n the
latter case, whether it is with young. If we see the stone of a date,
we know the particular tree that produced it.'

Our conductors, though not pretending to all this sagacity, were
nevertheless far in advance of some of us who proudly called ourselves
'old Africans,' and considered ourselves wonderfully expert in
tracking the desert paths. But now the landmarks on which they
depended had disappeared beneath the snow; and the atmosphere was so
surcharged with it, that the mountain summits could no longer be
descried. At length the guides abandoned the hopeless effort, and
declared that they had entirely lost the way, and knew not in what
direction to proceed. At this juncture, Cavaignac, remembering that
the mountains had appeared due south on the preceding evening, seized
his compass, and boldly ordered the troops in that direction. It was
the only hope; but the march became so fatiguing, and the natives gave
so little encouragement to the expectation of finding the mountains
wooded, that a halt was ordered, and a bivouac on the snowy plain.

Many were the miseries that attended this encampment. The rattling of
arms was heard on every side, for the soldiers were shivering to such
a degree that they could not hold their guns steadily. What would they
not now have given for some of the wood they had so wantonly destroyed
in the forests of the Tell! But the bivouac was not even supplied with
chiah--one of the commonest plants in Sahara, having a ligneous root,
which had hitherto served us for fuel when everything else failed.
Nothing was to be found but halfa, green, and steeped in snow; and the
most skilful kindlers succeeded only in amusing themselves for a time
with poor, little fires, that emitted more smoke than flame. The men,
of course, could not make their soup; but the general ordered them
rations of biscuit and coffee. For my own part, not being able to make
a fire of wet halfa, I was looking disconsolately at a bit of biscuit,
and a little morsel of cheese, which was to compose my dinner, when
Lieutenant N---- sent word that his fire-makers had been more
successful, and that they offered me a corner. In a few minutes, I sat
down to two boiled eggs, which appeared delicious. Meanwhile, the
night drew on. The soldier's bed out-of-doors is a sheepskin laid on
the bare ground, under a tent so small that he cannot stand upright in
it. Now, as the earth was very damp, those who did not take the
precaution of