Page 451 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

412 NAKAB EL HAJAR. [CH.

I observed on one occasion a party of four or

five finish a skin holding as many gallons.

At eight hours we found the sun so op­

pressive, that the Bedowins halted in a shal­
low valley under the shade of some stunted

tamarisk trees. Their scanty foliage would,

however, have afforded but slight shelter from

the burning heat of the sun’s rays, if our

guides had not with their daggers dug up

or cut off the roots and lower branches, and
placed them at the top of the tree. Having

done so, they quietly took possession of the

most shady spots, and left us to shift the best

way we could. Within these burning hol­

lows the sun’s rays are concentrated and
thrown off as from a mirror ; the herbs around

were scorched to a cindery blackness; not a

cloud obscured the firmament, and the breeze

which moaned past us was of a glowing heat,

like that escaping from the mouth of a fur­

nace. Our guides dug hollows in the sand,

and thrust their blistered feet within them.
Although we were not long in availing our­

selves of the practical lesson they had taught

us, I began to be far from pleased with their

churlish behaviour. Every approach I made