s. Till then our asses had been quite docile; but, annoyed with
their riders so long upon their backs, they refused to go forward. A fit
took possession of them, and all at the same instant threw their riders
on the ground, or among the bushes. The Moors, however, who accompanied
us, assisted to catch our capricious animals, who had nearly scampered
off, and replaced us on the hard backs of these headstrong creatures. At
noon the heat became so violent, that even the Moors themselves bore it
with difficulty. We then determined on finding some shade behind the
high mounds of sand which appeared in the interior; but how were we to
reach them! The sands could not be hotter. We had been obliged to leave
our asses on the shore, for they would neither advance nor recede. The
greater part of us had neither shoes nor hats; notwithstanding, we were
obliged to go forward almost a long league to find a little shade. The
heat reflected by the sands of the Desert could be compared to nothing
but the mouth of an oven at the moment of drawing out the bread;
nevertheless, we endured it; but not without cursing those who had been
the occasion of all our misfortunes. Arrived behind the heights for
which we searched, we stretched ourselves under the Mimosa-gommier, (the
acacia of the Desert), several broke branches from the asclepia
(swallow-wort), and made themselves a shade. But whether from want of
air, or the heat of the ground on which we were seated, we were nearly
all suffocated. I thought my last hour was come. Already my eyes saw
nothing but a dark cloud, when a person of the name of Borner, who was
to have been a smith at Senegal, gave me a boot containing some muddy
water, which he had had the precaution to keep. I seized the elastic
vase, and hastened to swallow the liquid in large draughts. One of my
companions, equally tormented with thirst, envious of the pleasure I
seemed to feel, and which I felt effectually, drew the foot from the
boot, and seized it in his turn, but it availed him nothing. The water
which remained was so disgusting, that he could not drink it, and
spilled it on the ground. Captain Begnere, who was present, judging, by
the water which fell, how loathsome must that have been which I had
drank, offered me some crumbs of biscuit, which he had kept most
carefully in his pocket. I chewed that mixture of bread, dust, and
tobacco, but I could not swallow it, and gave it all masticated to one
of my young brothers,