Page 49 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

30 TOR TO SUEZ. [on.
a
ness to oblige when once they are fairly em­

barked in the journey. When they had
£ lighted their fire, and had seated themselves
i
around, they soon lost all recollection of their
first disappointment, and, while sipping their
$
a brandy, listened with much interest to the
tales of one of their number—a dwarf-—whose
exertions, aided by a hunch-back, crooked
i legs, and most coarse features, were rewarded
by repeated peals of laughter from his listen­
ers. Although but sparingly clad, they ap­

peared to suffer but little from the weather,
!
and were highly amused at an expedient I
had recourse to to shelter myself from it. A
boat-cloak was all I had to serve as bedding;
and, to make the most of that, I dug a hollow
in the sand, and covered my garment over
me. My contrivance shielded me, however,
but little from the cold during the night,
which, towards the approach of morning, be­
came intense. I remark that all travellers

who have crossed this part of the Desert in
the winter months describe the same severity
of weather: for my own part, being wholly
unable to sleep, I amused myself with observ­
ing my Bedowin friends. When the others at