rt.]

The character of the country was the same as on the previous day, a long
stretch of flat, then undulations, after which we entered another dry
canal cut deep, with vertical rocky sides, very similar to the Chel-Payeh
except that in the bed of the gorge itself there were now enormous flat
slabs of stone instead of sand and gravel, as the day before. Further on
we were surrounded by low hills, which we crossed by a pass, and after
having been on the saddle continuously for sixteen hours we halted at
eight o'clock a.m. in the middle of a broiling, barren stretch of sand,
gravel and shingle.

After so long a march, and under such unpleasant conditions, our throats
and tongues were parched with thirst. Fortunately, we still had one skin
of water left, I thought, so my first impulse was to hasten to have it
taken off the saddle that we might all have a sip. But misfortune pursued
us. On approaching the camel that carried it, the animal was all wet on
one side, and I fully realised what to expect. Sadek, with a long face of
dismay, took down the flabby empty skin; the water had all dripped out of
it, and here we were, in the middle of the desert, no well, whether salt
or otherwise, and not a thimbleful of water!

The very thought that we could get nothing to drink made us ten times
more thirsty, and we seemed to be positively roasting under the fierce
sun. The camel men threw themselves down upon their felt coats and moaned
and groaned, and the camels, who had drunk or eaten nothing for three
days, appeared most unhappy and grunted pitifully.

For want of better remedy we sucked pebbles, which stimulated salivation
and allayed the thirst to a certain extent, but with the high fever,
which brought about fearful exhaustion and severe aches, and the
unpleasant, abundant electricity in the air caused by the intense
dryness--which has a most peculiar effect on one's skin--we none of us
felt particularly happy. The three cats were the only philosophers of the
party and were quite sympathetic. They amused themselves by climbing up
the camel's long necks, just as they would up a tree, to the evident
discomfort of the larger animals. They had a particular fancy for sitting
on the camels' bushy heads.

The electricity with which the air of the desert is absolutely saturated
is gradually absorbed by the human body and stored as in an accumulator.
On touching the barrel of a rifle or any other good conductor of
electricity, one