ok a large
quantity of tar, which I had brought with our caravan for that purpose,
and strewed it in a continued stream round the encampment, within which
circle of tar I immediately placed another train or circle of gunpowder,
and having taken this precaution, I anxiously waited the lions'
approach. These dreadful animals, knowing, I presume, the force of our
troop, advanced very slowly, and with caution, approaching on every
side of us with an equal pace, and growling in hideous concert, so as
to resemble an earthquake, or some similar convulsion of the world. When
they had at length advanced and steeped all their paws in the tar, they
put their noses to it, smelling it as if it were blood, and daubed their
great bushy hair and whiskers with it equal to their paws. At that very
instant, when, in concert, they were to give the mortal dart upon us, I
discharged a pistol at the train of gunpowder, which instantly exploded
on every side, made all the lions recoil in general uproar, and take to
flight with the utmost precipitation. In an instant we could behold
them scattered through the woods at some distance, roaring in agony, and
moving about like so many Will-o'-the-Wisps, their paws and faces all on
fire from the tar and the gun-powder. I then ordered a general pursuit:
we followed them on every side through the woods, their own light
serving as our guide, until, before the rising of the sun, we followed
into their fastnesses and shot or otherwise destroyed every one of them,
and during the whole of our journey after we never heard the roaring of
a lion, nor did any wild beast presume to make another attack upon our
party, which shows the excellence of immediate presence of mind, and
the terror inspired into the savage enemies by a proper and well-timed
proceeding.

We at length arrived on the confines of an immeasurable desert--an
immense plain, extending on every side of us like an ocean. Not a tree,
nor a shrub, nor a blade of grass was to be seen, but all appeared an
extreme fine sand, mixed with gold-dust and little sparkling pearls.

The gold-dust and pearls appeared to us of little value, because we
could have no expectation of returning to England for a considerable
time. We observed, at a great distance, something like a smoke arising
just over the verge of the horizon, and looking with our telescopes we
perceived it to be a whirlwind tearing up the sand and tossing it about
in the heavens with frightful imp