Scientific American Supplement, No. 1157, March 5, 1898 | Page 6

and started at three in
the morning on our next stretch of fifty-three miles.
These night marches were pleasant enough; it was only the hour or two
before dawn when the heaviness of sleep troubled us; but just as we
began nodding, and felt in danger of falling off our camels, the keen
change in the temperature which freshens the desert in the early
morning braced us up, and, fully awake, we watched for the coming of
Venus. As she sailed across the heavens, she flooded the desert with a
warm, soft light, which in its luminosity equaled an English summer
moon, and shortly seemingly following her guidance, the great fiery
shield of the sun stood up from the horizon, and broad day swept over
the plain.
Toward the evening we found ourselves in a bowlder-strewn basin

amid rocky, sterile hills, evidently the offshoots and spurs of the
Jeb-el-Gharr, which stood out a purple serrated mass on our left, and
here we saw for the first time for many a month rain clouds piling up
above the rocky heights. Their tops, catching the rosy glow from the
declining sun, appeared in their quaint forms like loftier mountains
with their snowy summits all aglow. This was, indeed, a grateful sight
to us; the camels already pricked up their ears, for the smell of moisture
was in the air. We knew that the end of our waterless journey was not
far off; for where those clouds were discharging their precious burdens
the valley of Ariab lay. But many a weary ridge of black rock and
agaba must still be crossed before our goal was reached.
We camped at six that evening till midnight, when we started on our
record march. Unfortunately at this time my filter gave out, owing to
the perishable nature of the rubber tubing; the remaining water in our
girbas was foul and nauseating from the strong flavor of the skins. I
resolved to try and hold out without touching the thick, greasy fluid,
and wait till the wells of Ariab were reached. As we advanced, the
signs of water became more and more apparent; the camel grass was
greener down by the roots, and mimosa and sunt trees flourished at
every few hundred yards. When morning came, for the first time we
heard the chirruping and piping of birds. The camels increased their
pace, and all became eager to reach our destination before the extreme
heat of the day. But pass after pass was traversed, and valley after
valley crossed, and yet the wadi of Ariab, with its cool, deep wells of
precious water, was still afar. It was not till past two o'clock in the
afternoon that a long, toilsome defile of rugged rock brought us on the
edge of a steep descent, and before us lay the winding Khor of Ariab,
with its mass of green fresh foliage throwing gentle shadows on the
silver sand of its dry watercourse. It seemed an age as we traversed that
extended khor before our guide pointed to a large tree on our right, and
said "Moja." We dismounted under the shadow of its branches, and
found awaiting us the sheikh of the valley, who pressed our hands and
greeted us in a most friendly way; but I was almost mad with thirst, and
asked for the well. I was taken to a mound a few yards from our retreat,
on the sides of which were two or three clay scoop-outs, all dry but one,
and this held a few gallons of tepid water, from which camels had been

drinking. The man took a gourd, half filled it, and offered it to me to
drink. "But the well, the well!" I cried. "Oh! that's a little higher up,"
said he, and he led me to a wide revetted well about fifty feet deep, at
the bottom of which, reflecting the sky, shone the water like a mirror.
"That's the water I want," said I. The man shook his head. "You cannot
drink of that till your baggage camels arrive; we have no means of
reaching it." I almost groaned aloud, and with the agony of the Ancient
Mariner could well cry, "Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to
drink." There was no help for it. I made my way back to the shadow of
the tree, threw myself on my blanket, and, racked with thirst, tried to
wait patiently for the coming of the camel men. Fortunately, the sheikh
of the well was inspired with hospitality, and after a while brought us
some fresh milk in a metal wash basin, a utensil which he evidently
produced in honor of our visit. I took a long draught, and though it was
associated with native ablutions, I shall always remember it with the