Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/195

Rh and our wheels sank deep into the mire. The mud of the bottom valleys of our Western rivers would have been considered a feeble circumstance compared with this mud of the presumably dry Sahara. Side backwaters added still further to our difficulties, and for a time it looked as though we should hardly pull through; but with enough of "ee-yups" and "ees" joined to the cracking of the great whip, we finally reached the actual bank of the stream and were there helped across by an Arab who had come down from the caravansary to guide the horses. The river was running fast, turbid with yellow sediment, but it had contracted itself to its legitimate channel. We pulled up to the great portal of the Borj for our first halt, and immediately received the hospitality of the place—which meant stools to sit upon, in place of the gravelly earth, and the supporting back wall, of which the Arabs make such good use. We had hardly hoped to obtain refreshments here, as Ben-Sali had informed us that such would not be dispensed to travelers, but I ventured to ask for coffee, and in a short time we were served with the delicious beverage, prepared with that same consummate skill which is the art of native coffee-making in the north of Africa, and with the daintiest of foreign china. What changes in the civilization of the world are in progress!

Beyond Saada the road changes much for the better, and we kept the animals going at a lively pace. On either side was the gently undulating and hummocky sand, crowned by terebinth bushes and salsolaceous scrub, high enough to conceal the straying goats that were in places browsing upon them for their scant vegetation, and everywhere sufficiently dreary elements in the landscape. Two forlorn trees or treelets, seemingly olives, were left by the roadside, and the undulating plain, with its closely oppressed horizon, kept on for mile upon mile in its monotonous sweep. Despite its dreary and forlorn aspect, it had for us its attractions; its peculiar sterility-—one can hardly say absolute barrenness—and uniformity were, if nothing more, inviting to study, and my mind frequently wandered forth in an almost wild contemplation of the scene. Our cabriolet was well suited to the special purposes of our explorations, as we could easily dismount for the examination of specimens, and even with a high temperature there was no special inconvenience in this. There was, however, little need to leave our seats, as, conformably with the landscape and the general character of the country, there was a marked uniformity in the geological and botanical features as well; a study of one section meant practically a study of the rest.

So far as the heat of the desert is concerned, it is an unquestionable reality; and yet, perhaps, in the month of our travel, the