New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-02-22
CrossIng the Desert.
Russell, in "My Diary in India" gives bis I'M

Russell, in my Diary in India" gives bis In
pressions Of the desert as follows:
| The desert on which we debouched from the ric
! oasis of Cairo, even now glorious mass Of green
resembles the bed of some deep see mot level an
| smooth, bnt corrugated tossed into mountains an
reefs Of sand, scanned with shallow ravnes, and 10
| closing in the sweep of the sand-hiiI immens
plains, covered with glistening, even coat of cir
cular and oval stones, varying in size from nine
pound shot to q grape. How they shine u fl.
sun flashing back its rays from their polished
sides, SO that. at times, where the plain sretche.
far away to the tumai on the horizon it is scarce
possible to believe that it IS not dancing. spark
ling sea which Is bounding by the side Of the ran
way. This effect is increased by the waving lines
of the raried air, which gives to the verge Of the
great circle Of desoiation all the appearance Of
rough and rapid tideway. No pen can describe.
no pencil convey the real sentiment OF . the
DESERT We watch, with the profoHndcst interest
string Of camels, mere specks in the distance,
which, under the charge OF two Arabs, are plowing
their way the sand-hiIIs toward tile horizon.
on which stands a solitary date-tree.
With some such feelings might the men of the
early world have behed the first bark bearing the
robin. a hiplef of his trainers toward the ocean
wall, which would hide il from their sight. The
sense ct indefinite space is first impressed on one
BY that which is we know, definite enough in act-
ality. But somehow or other the sea ii bounded,
in our notions. We see it marked out in maps, and
rounded of in terrestrial globes, 80 that its vast
ness is destroyed; bat none of us can tell where
far it pushes its sandy into the heart Of the
continent Sir Roderick M,.rchson may know !;
Burton may be able to tell us all about it; but it ii
not profitable to remove the feeling of immensity,
ofyagueness, and Of barren grandeur and primeval
antiquity, which is produced by the eight of the
desert wherecn the lsraelites wandered and where
the legions of Cambyses found nameless cemete-
ries. To me there is no sense of barrenness pro-
duced by the seattle deserts first effect is pro-
| ductiye of the sensation of world destroyed-of
| barrenness, waste and lifeIessness.
Blanched bones of camels Lie in dull WIiteness on
the sands Not bird fans the hot silent air. Stones
and sand. and sand and stones are all and every
thing and everywhere, stretched out dead and hard
under the blue sky and the relentless sun. The rail
which conveys US through this desoIation is singe
| and the line is said by English engineers to be
| very badly made, as the French engineers who
laid it out, took it over ridge 100 feet high in
stead of following low level near the river which
would have greatly diminished expense and cost of
| working. The water and coal for the engines has
to be carried by the trains out to the various sta
tions. So they are like commssariat animals in a
barren country, which have to carry their own fod
der and dminish their public bnrthens. These sta
tons are helpless hot, ovenllke erectons, generally
| eked out by old Crimean wooden huts, within the
1 shade of which may be seen undoubted English
man, smoking his pipe. At the twelfth station we
coaled-the train ended IN the desert here; but at
long intervals, for miles in advance, we could see
encampmenis of Arabs who, for the time, had be-
come navvies, and were engaged in picking and
burrowing and blasting through the rocks way
| for the iron horse.
In a long wooden shed-the center Of group Of
tents-were laid out long tables covered with hot
joints of recondite animals, papier-mache chickens.
and Ignite vegetables. This was our dinner. It
had come all the way from Cairo; SO had the
wine, and beer, and spirits. If mamma and quails
were at all eatabe, we had enFied the food of the
| Israehtes. By pompous fiction we were induced
to draw lots, which were to determine our places
| in the vans. the passengers being divided into
patches, one for each van. We looked out on the
| desert, and To-! there were seven or eight small
vans, resembling Brighton bathing boxes laid Ion
| gitudinally on wheels, to which were attached
creatures of an uncertain number Of legs, reseni-
bling very much Scarborough ponies at the end Of
the season. There were passengers enough to gil
them all five times over; but we were told not to
be uneasy, and we quietly settled down to await
the miracle which our senses told us necessary
to effect our departure.