Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-11-24

reach them. The snow continued to fall
in large flakes the troops, anxious and sor-
rowful, described thousand circuits and
made thousand useless turnings, for our
Arab guides were utterly at fault During
three or four months previous to the expe-
dition, Cavaignac had been selecting and
retaining as guides whatever Saharians he
could find acquainted with that part of the
desert he intended to traverse. The Arabs
are gifted with remarkable dexterity in
steering without compass, recognizing a
footstep imperceptible to the common eye,
seeming the water at a distance, and find
ing their way by marks which would escape
the most observant European. A Sahari-
an once affirmed to Colonel Dumas: Il am
not consideredremarkably sharp-sighted, but
can distinguish goat from sheep at
distance of days journey, and l know
some who smell the smoke of pipe, or OF
broiled meat at thirty miles We all know
each other by the track of our feet in the
sand, for no one tribe walks like another,
nor does a wife leave the same footprint as
an unmarried woman If a haze las pass
ed, we know by its footprint whether it is
male or female, and in the latter case,
whether it is with young. If we see the
~ sf nrddhe.G dats We know the particular
Our conductors, though not pretending
to all this sagacity, were nevertheless :ar
IN advance of some of US who proudly call
ed ourselves sold Africans" and consider
ed ourselves wonderfully expert In track
ing the desert paths. But now the land
marks on which they depended had disap-
peared beneath the snow and the atmos-
phere was so surcharged with it that the
mountain submits could no longer be de-
scried. At length the guides abandoned
the hopeless effort, and declared that they
had entirely lost the way, and knew not in
what direction to proceed. AT this Juncture'
Cavignac, remembering that the mountains
had appeared due south on the preceding
evening, selzed his compass and boldly or
dered the troops in that direction. 1t was
the only hope but the march became so
fatiguing, and the natives gave SO little en-
couragement to the expectation OF finding
the mountains wooded, that halt was Or
dered, and bivouac on the snowy plain.
Many were the miseries that attended
this encampment. The rattliEg OF arms
was heard on every side, for the soldiers
were shivering to such degree that they
could not hold their guns steadily. What
would they not have given for some OF the
wood they had so wantonly destroyed in
the forests OF the Tell Bot the bivouac
was not even supplied with chiah-one of
the commonest plants in Sahara, having
ligenous root, which had hitherto served
us for fuel when everything else failed
Nothing was to be found but halfa, green,
and stepped in snow; and the most skilful
kindlers succeeded only in amusing them
selves for time with poor little fires that
emitted more smoke than flame. The men,
of coarse, could not make their soup; but
the general ordered them rations OF biscuit
and coffee. For my own part not being
able to make fire of wet halfa, | was
looking disconsolately at bit of biscuit,
and little morsel of cheese, which was
to compose my dinner, when Lieutenant
N sent word that his fire makers had
been more successful, and that they offered
me corner. In few minutes, | sat down
to two boiled eggs, which appeared delici-
Gus. Meanwhile, The night drew on. The
soldiers bed out of doors is sheep skin
laid on the bare ground, under a tent so
small that he cannot stand upright in it.
Now, as the earth was very damp, those
who did not take the precaution of choos-
ing little mound, and removing portion
of the wet soil, soon found themselves lit
orally in the mud, and were obliged to get
up, and walk about all night.
The snow continued to fall thick and fast,
the thermometer marking 7 degrees below
the freezing point during the night Some
days before, it had been 1875 degrees Fab
renheit in the sun; so that we were DOOM
ed, as in the purgatory of Dante
A sofferr torment caldi e geli;
from which, by the way, Milton has obvi-
ously borrowed his idea of the internal tor
ment:
And feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more
fierce,
From beds of raging fire, to starye in ice
Their soft ETHEREAL warmth, and there TO pine
Immovable, unfixed, and frozen round,
Periods of time thence hurried back to fire.
At the sound of the morning watch gun
the camp presented most distressing spec-
tacle. The Arabs and negroes of the con-
voy were lying motionless in the open air,
rolled IN their burnooses. Many Of these
poor creatures were but lightly clad, and
had the lower limbs entirely naked. They
were so benumed and stupefed with cold,
that they refused TO rise and load the cam
els ; they begged to be allowed to lie still
and die in peace. The cattle were also in
sad condition, not only from cold, but
hunger: for the snow-covered ground afford
ed them no pasture. As part of the provis-
ions had been damaged, it was now asked,
in dismay, what would become of the army
if the beasts should perish? The recollec-
ton of the disaster at Boo o-Taleb, where the
column of General Levasseur left SO many
men in the snow, occurred to the stoutest
hearts. But even darker shades mingled
in the prospects of our troops; for Gene
raj Levasseur," said they, was only thirty
miles from a post occupied by French
troops, and the neighboring tribes raised
and terminated those whom they found a.
live, though benumbed, on the plain but
we in the midst of the desert, far from any
human dwelling, what will become US p
Hunger, thirst, and the enemy, will soon
finish the remains of our unfortunate az
my"
But the officers are on foot, setting the
example of vigorous exertion, and striving
to comfort and encourage the men while
the calm and quiet prudence of the general
inspires every one with confidence in en-
.La.r he nrInrn 40 ILa nnlu