ROUTE TO TIMBUCTOO. O

the day, and occasionally by the smell of the

earth, which they take up in their hands. For

the first twenty days after they enter this wil-

derness they have no water ; during this period,

the caravan is obliged to carry water in goat-

skins \ as not a drop is to be found by digging. On this account, about a third part of the camels

are employed in carrying water, and even with

this quantity the camels are often left for three

or four days without any. They never use mules

in this part of the journey ; they neither find

the shell "", nor the thorny plant so common in

the deserts of Africa.

The country on the bordei's of this desert,

to the right and left, is inhabited by roving

Arabs, at the distance of tlu'ee or four dayvS from the track which the caravan pursues ; and

is said to be partly plain, and in part hilly, with a little grass, and a few shrubs ; when the cattle

of these Arabs have consumed what grows in one spot, their owners remove to another. The

caravan, though it generally consisted of about 400 men well armed, seeks its route through

tlie most unfrequented part of the desert, from a dread of the attacks of the Arabs. The

hottest wind is that from the east-south-east, and is called Esshume " ; the coldest is that

* These goat-skins, when containing water, are called by

the Arabs hereby or ghireb, plur. kerba^ or ghirba^ sing. ™The sheh is the wormseed plant, the thorny plant here

alluded to is the wild myrtle.

" Esshume^ or the hot wind. For a particular descrip- B 3