The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-09-03
A Land Where People Drink Only
Once q Day.
iCoutmu1l from LlSt 4

Nv le; u, suppose a British army To
have secured the SIX or eight thousand
camel, needed for transportation "a most
improbable thing, for nearly all the
c.mcls in the S%ouian belong 10 the re-
h.llious t-ihes1. Even the guns have u
he dlsunuuted. AMI with their carriages
carried on camt,S backs | hal very
light howitzers OF about i've hunired
nnrnds without the carriages. Each was
tttcd on a huge wooden pack-saddle made
Tor the purpose. and the unfortunate
camel which bore 1t never lasted over
ten days, Tor four hUGdred pountS /, .
snI, load for the desert camel whose
capacity mu-r X judged D wat he can
carry when worn down by trayel and
short ratl0Ds.
All the forage and water for the caval-
nv and artillery horses must also be car
ried on camei's back, for horses would
starye where the camel thrives. a march
of fourteen miles from SuakIm would
bring the army TO the foot OF the great
Arabian Chain, which begins al Suez and
rms paralicd TO the Red Sea down 10 the
equator. many Of It's peaks rising above
eight thousand feet. 1t Is eight miles
across, consisting OF several parallel
ridges separated by deep valleys. For
ak or seven days, at least, the army, with
its immense tram, would be struggling
and laundering up one side OF a ridge
and down the other, through steep and
narrow defles where men and ANIMALS
have to move in single file, and where
many a Baggage camel woIld drop his
load and his bones.
Suppose that the fierce Bedouins,
whose homes are IN these mountains,
have allowed the British, strung out IN a
long slender column vulnerable at every
point, TO cross the numerous dehles where
a few hundred men could stop a whole
army. Suppose the invaders to have
emerged without serious losses from the
mountain range out upon the plateau ex-
tending t. the Nile, and which itself IL
very rugged and a%bounding IN difficult
passes aud belts of deep, loose sand,-
the toughest obstacles of ali. The worst
is vet to come. Water was comparative
" plentiful in the mountains, aud the
heat was moderate. But now the only
supply is from the scanty wells upon the
line Of march. The Bedouins retreat,
destroying the wells behind them (Which
is a very easy thing to dol, aud swarms
of them hang around the fiankS and rear
of the invaders to harass them and cut
off their stagglers. The heat rises every
day above one hundred degrees, even in
November and December, and one hun
dred and fifty degrees and more in sum
mer in that cloudless land there is no
shade. The plain quiyers under the
fierce sunlight, while the mirage deludes
the eyes with the mockery of tictious
lakes. This is what | experienced day
after day on the deserts. Suppose, now,
the invaders 10 have consumed then sup
ply Of water. Ii the enemy can cut them
off from the wells for three days, there Is
no need Of firing another shot. Not 4
soul of them can survive. 1t is the story
of the Roman legious pcrishing in the
Parthian deserts, and Of Hicks Pasha in
Kordofau.
The Arabs divide then deserts into two
kinds. The first is called 81 Jcbet or q
Gcyrge, meaning mountain or wilderness.
IN this kiad Of deserts there is more or
less vegetation, always very Scanty but
vet it is there that the Bedouins roam
and raise their f)cks and camels. Gazell-
es and other game are also found. The
desert between Berbcr and Saukim is
chiefly of this kind. The other sort is
called the dfm0Or, and it Is impossible to
imagine anything more barren and desc
late. 1t i literally nothing bat sand and
rocks. Not a bush, not a blade of grass
ever grew there, and consequently no
animal life at all, not ever insects. They
arc like oceans which you cross on your
desert ships" but where it Is death to
tarry. The ostrich and the hyena cross
them SWIFTLY by night. These atmoors
are generally FROM eight to ten days
across, with one group Of wells in the
middle. Such is the Atmoor Of Shigre,
which | crossed in min days. aud that of
kerosko in seven two days less than the
usual time). Only one group of wells is
found half way, which is called m0ura-
bitter. None but camels and Bedouins
can drink It's water. Trave,ers always
carry enough Nile water to last them
across. 1t is the Only deserts where no
guides are needed, for the track is per
fectly marked by the skeletons of camels
and cattle, which, as | counted them.
average sixty to the mile on the best parts
Of the trail, and four hundred on the
worst. Thousands of camels and oxen
perish there yearly. The latter are
driven from the Upper Nile, s~cantily wat
cred once 10 forty-eight hours on the
march, and a large proportion of them
die on the way. The hyenaS and vultures,
which are the only dcn;zens of the
atmoor, pick their bones clean before the
next morning, and the fierce sun heat
dries the hides aud bones, SO that the
stencil OF carrIon never taints the desert
air.