g about, which have been left to starve by
their masters as unfit for further service. I shall never forget
the piteous look of one of these poor creatures which I saw dragging
itself to and fro in the desert, anxiously seeking for food and
drink. What a cruel being is man! Why could he not put an end to
the poor camel's pain by a blow with a knife? One would imagine
that the air in the vicinity of these fallen animals was poisoned;
but here this is less the case than it would be in more temperate
regions, for the pure air and the great heat of the desert rather
dry up than decompose corpses.

From the same cause our piece of roast beef was still good on the
fifth day. The hard-boiled eggs, which my servant packed so
clumsily that they got smashed in the very first hour, did not
become foul. Both meat and eggs were shrunk and dried up. On the
third day the white bread had become as hard as ship-biscuit, so
that we had to break it up and soak it in water. Our drinking water
became worse day by day, and smelt abominably of the leathern
receptacles in which we were compelled to keep it. Until we reached
Suez our poor camels got not a drop to drink, and their food
consisted of a scanty meal of bad provender once a day.

At eight in the morning we set off once more, and rode until about
five in the afternoon. At about four I suddenly descried the Red
Sea and its shores. This circumstance delighted me, for I felt
assured that we should reach the coast in the course of another
hour, and then our laborious journey to Suez would be accomplished.
I called to my servant, pointed out the sea to him, and expressed my
surprise that we had sighted it so soon. He maintained, however,
that what I beheld was not the sea, but a fata morgana. At first I
refused to believe him, because the thing seemed so real. But after
an hour had elapsed we were as far from the sea as ever, and at
length the mirage vanished; and I did not behold the real sea until
six o'clock on the following morning, when it appeared in exactly
the same way as the phantom of the previous evening.

At five in the afternoon we at length halted. I lay down on the
earth completely exhausted, and enjoyed a refreshing sleep for more
than three hours, when I was awakened by my servant, who informed me
that a caravan was just before us, which we should do well to join,
as the remainder of our road was far less safe than the portion we
had already traversed.