Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/94

 acacia (the tree which furnished the shittim wood of which the Ark was made), which he pronounced the most fully proportioned tree he had seen on the desert. For a wonder, it was of considerable size, and offered a grateful shade. The air under it was cool and refreshing. To this spot we removed our camp-chairs and a table, and even our iron bedsteads, that, if need were, we might lie down and rest; and here we spent a long, sweet Sabbath, full of a heavenly calm, with which all nature seemed to be in sympathy.

Looking out from under our tree, it seemed as if all living things were enjoying the rest of the day. One must have been far in the desert to realize how sweet as well as strange it was to see two or three little birds, not bigger than sparrows, hopping about. They were very tame, at least they had not been scared by the frequent presence of men, and ventured quite near us, as if to make our acquaintance; and as they piped their feeble notes, it seemed as if they were trying to sing a song of home, to cheer the lonely travellers. But the creatures that enjoyed the day the most were the camels. They knew that it was Sunday, and enjoyed it as if it had been made for them. Just see them now! I have been watching them as they roam about at their own sweet will. They do not invade our privacy, for they do not seek the shade, but the sunshine. But sun or shade or water — all is free to them to-day. Here is an old tramper of the desert now standing before me. I hear a singular gurgling noise, as if a brook were running down his throat. He is sucking up the water out of the cistern which nature has provided as a reservoir within him, into his stomach. Who would not rest on such a day, when even the brute creation feel the blessedness of repose?

But we found beneath the shade more than mere