Page 86 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

iv.] SHERM TO SINAI. 67

animals require, when thus fed, no water: ne­
vertheless, it is singular, considering the plants

are all highly aromatic, that their breath should
still, as at other periods, prove highly offensive.

After dark, our road was crossed by several
streams, and we found considerable difficulty
in threading our way over or between the
masses of rock which were strewn around.
From this we were very shortly relieved by the
rising of the moon. The defile now became
very narrow, and wo camels could with diffi­

culty pass abreast; while its direction was so
circuitous, that, until we had approached
some projecting point, from whence the outlet
was discovered, it often appeared to be wholly
blocked up.
It is not when winding amidst these alpine
barriers, beneath the fierce glare of a noon­
tide sun, that the traveller's mind becomes
impressed with the recollection of past events
which have been transacted there. Such

thoughts are best called forth in the calm and
still hour of such a night as this, when no
sound is heard save the almost noiseless tread
of the camel; when the moon, with a bril­
liancy unknown in more northern climes,
f 2