The people offered me buttermilk and
bread. I noticed several hens running about the tents with their
young, and eagerly looking for food. I would gladly have bought
one, but as I was not disposed to kill and prepare it myself, I was
obliged to be contented with the bread and buttermilk.
Some plants grow in this neighbourhood which put me in mind of my
native country--the wild fennel. At home I scarcely thought them
worth a glance, while here they were a source of extreme
gratification. I am not ashamed to say, that at the sight of these
flowers the tears came into my eyes, and I leant over them and
kissed them as I would a dear friend.
We started again today, as early as 5 in the evening, as we had now
the most dangerous stage of the journey before us, and were desirous
of passing it before nightfall. The uniformly flat sandy desert in
some degree altered in character. Hard gravel rattled under the
hoofs of the animals; mounds, and strata of rock alternated with
rising ground. Many of the former were projecting from the ground
in their natural position, others had been carried down by floods,
or piled over each other.
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