Polynesian., 1853-02-26
A JOURNEY OVER THE GREAT
DESERT.
By WASHINGTON BATES.

:. By WASHINGTON BATES.
1t was with inexpressible emotions that
turned my back on the Pyramids, the RUNE
cities of Egypt, and the bright waters of tn
immortal Nile. The Great Desert, with it
unbroken solitudes and desolations, was be
fore me; seemingly inviting me to tread it
burning and sandy bosom.
left Cairo with six camels, five Arabs
young Egyptian, and good supply o
provisions, and took up my line of marcf
across the desert, for the Atlantic coast. Il
was truly novel expedition. No earthly
object could be gained by it unless it were
to crafty love of adventure, and take a
few glances at desert-life." Well, that
idea was enough. And we felt as well sat.
isfied in view of our expedition, as does a
Persian or Arabian nobleman, when he goes
to visit a remote portion of his province, and
is accompanied by long retinue of servants
and cavalry.
| Life on the desert is almost uniform.
What can be said of one days adventures,
may, with few exceptions, be said of anO-
ther Some travellers have complained OF
monotony. For my own part, found none.
Nor do know why should differ from 9TH
ers who have preceded me in these adven-
lures, unless it is, because / love the savage
haunts of nature. There is something in
spring, something captivating in march
over these sterile wastes. five find not the
rush and din of commerce, nor the mighty
populace of crowded cities, we find enough
to repay an investigation: in other words, if
in many places man is absent, God is near.
The great desert-called by the Arabs,
Zahara-cOnstitutes one of the most interest
ing features in physical geography. Being
fairly upon it, l found, for the first time In
my life, that there is a wide difference be-
tween travelling over the map, and PRACTICAL
ly measuring the ,corld by miles and leagues.
And so all persons will find it. And it is
deeply interesting to study geography IN ITS
relations of one part to the other; and In
view of the adaptation of man to the earth,
and of the earth to man. If our world were
one continuous stretch of vegetation, it would
produce calamities no mind can estimate; 1t
would be impossible to oppose barrier to
the swift march of pestilential scourges; nor
can we tell how long the human race would
continue its onward progress of numerical
millions The oceans on our globe are not
only highway for nations, but agents OF
publication of atmospheres sweeping over
great continents; carrying with them the
destructive eff1uvia of crowded towns and
cities, and of decomposing forests. And,
with a little thought, it will be seen that the
deserts are purifiers, not less than the oceans
of the world. Many miasma has crept on
Al II, Vah hrrf NJ
found its way to the Atlantic coast, west
ward, it expired beneath the burning sun or
amid the gasses of the atmosphere. And
there is another consideration of some Inn
portance. On this immense region, and par
ticularly on the oases interspersing, at dis
tant intervals, the dry sands, have fiourished
for thousands of years the hostile descend
ants of Ishmael If ever there was divine
prediction fulfilled, it is that spoken OF their
progenitor before he was born: Sand he will
be wild man; his hand ,ciH be against every
man. and every mans hand against HIM; and
he shall dwell in the presence Of all his bre-
thren." Gen. XIV. IL. The fulfIment of
this prediction yet remains IN full force
Many time have rulers of surrounding ma
tions tried to cut off this their implacable
foe. Pompey, Trajan, Vespasian, and even
Titus. have marched against them the cohorts
ofimperial Rome. But they were worse than
merely unsuccessful expeditions; in vain
thew reared the standard, and sounded the
crv of war: for Rome s mighty legions were
and they returned to their couh-
try not conquerors, but the conquered; not
so much by force of arms, as by the sterile
wastes which formed the Businesses OF defence
for the lawless children of Hagar's son. And
there they live at this day-sole monarchs OF
the desert!
On the map of Africa, the Great Desert Is
a picture; on the desert itself, it is stern re-
alsty. And, speaking of romance, the very
best of il is reality You see before and
around, skirting the bold sweep of the horl-
zon. wastes of bright colored sand; over
whose dreary bosom the sun sheds flood OF
gorgeous and almost binding light; to es-
cane which it is sometimes deemed advisable
TO change the order of nature, by sitting with
vorr back towards the head of your camel.
Excepting the oases, and the immediate out
skirts of the fertile territories by which Ia
bara is bounded, you will very seldom see
blade Of grass. or a vestige Of foliage: all IS
sand-a boundless ocean OF sand. with un-
dulating mounds scattered near you, OF at
remote distances. To obtain an abstract
idea of it, one may suppose mighty ocean
lashed by heavy tempest, and, IN an IN,
slant, petrefed; and subsequently dissolved
into the finest atoms, still retaining their un-
dulating appearance. From the quantity of
salt intermingled with the sand, and the mn
mense collections Of the remains OF marine
ANIMALS, it is not at all improbable that, over
this wide waste, an ocean forming, perhaps, a