_Sunday, Dec. 18._--We started at 6.50 this morning, and soon entered a region of high mountains. Here we saw a number of green bushes. Then we came out on a magnificent gravel plain. Mirage. Toward noon we came to a partial oasis, where are a number, about 200, of palms bearing a fruit peculiar to this one locality. Then a gorge. Then another valley with a few palms. Then passing a narrow defile we entered, what for a fitting name I called the “valley of lost souls.” Terrible heat. Slate mountains. On and on. No rest--no lunch till we reach Murrat. It was nearly 4 P.M. when at last we did arrive, and glad enough we were to throw ourselves down and rest the remainder of the day. The camels must have water and rest, too. There are 15 holes dug in the ground. Only three of them contain water that can be used for camels, and that is not fit to drink. Six men live here and keep the wells open. They also keep goats and crows and a half-dead donkey, which the crows already feed upon. After dinner, we had a pleasant chat with our Arab guide and others. For now, with the help of signs, we are getting so that we can talk quite a little Arabic. My Turkish is a great help, as many words are the same. The camels’ backs are so sore that they have to be seared with a hot iron. This is Sabbath eve, and I have had one quiet hour all to myself out on the sand under the stars.
_Monday, Dec. 19._--We left the wells of Murrat at about 7 A.M., and came out into a vast plain. We met a party at the wells who were eight days from Aboo-Hamed. We expect to make it in four. We pass a region of immense granite boulders, one of them looking exactly like a large cannon--sight and all. Mirage. We lunch without shelter on the burning sand, in a region called _Bergat Allouan_. In the afternoon, meet a party of three. We make for a mountain pass, but it is dark before we reach it. But we push on in the darkness. The camels are tired, and have to be whipped to their work. One is quite used up, and his load is taken off and put upon others. At last we camp in a mountain gorge, called _Cub El Gorphas_. High wind. It is toward 9 o’clock before we stop for the night. We have been at it over 13 hours to-day, and have made about 40 miles.