buttons on their waistcoats, and
their watches created the greatest astonishment. Major Denham wore a
pair of loose white trousers, into the pockets of which he
accidentally put his hands, which raised the curiosity of the ladies
to a wonderful degree; the major's hands were pulled out, and those
of three or four of the ladies thrust in, in their stead; these were
replaced by others, all demanding their use so violently and loudly,
that he had considerable difficulty in extricating himself, and was
glad to make his escape.

The remaining half of their journey to Mourzouk was pretty nearly the
same kind of surface as they had passed before, but in some places
worse. Sometimes two, and once three days, they were without finding
a supply of water, which was generally muddy, bitter, or brackish.
Nor is this the worst which sometimes befals the traveller; the
overpowering effect of a sudden sand-wind, when nearly at the close
of the desert, often destroys a whole kafila, already weakened by
fatigue, and the spot was pointed out to them strewed with bones and
dried carcasses, where the year before, fifty sheep, two camels, and
two men perished from thirst and fatigue, when within eight hours
march of the well, for which they were then anxiously looking.

Indeed the sand storm they had the misfortune to encounter in
crossing the desert, gave them a pretty correct idea of the dreaded
effects of these hurricanes. The wind raised the fine sand, with
which the extensive desert was covered, so as to fill the atmosphere,
and render the immense space before them impenetrable to the eye
beyond a few yards. The sun and clouds were entirely obscured, and a
suffocating and oppressive weight accompanied the flakes and masses
of sand, which it might be said they had to penetrate at every step.
At times they completely lost sight of the camels, though only a few
yards before them. The horses hung their tongues out of their mouths,
and refused to face the torrents of sand. A sheep that accompanied
the kafila, the last of their stock, lay down in the road, and they
were obliged to kill him and throw the carcass on a camel; a parching
thirst oppressed them, which nothing alleviated. They had made but
little way by three o'clock in the afternoon, when the wind got round
to the eastward, and imparted to them a little refreshment. With this
change they moved on until about five, when they halted, protected a
little by three several ranges of ir