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in some measure prepared his companions in misfortune for the dismal prospect when they had surmounted the bank; but when they had actually surveyed the dry and dreary waste, stretching out to an immeasurable extent before their eyes, they exclaimed, "Tis enough! here we must breathe our last; we have no hope before us of finding either water or provisions, or human beings, or even wild beasts; nothing can live here.' The greater part lay down with a determination to die on the spot; but by the assistance and persuasions of Hogan, Williams and Savage, they were induced to proceed along the edge of the cliffs, which were from five to six hundred feet in height; the surface of the ground was baked as hard as flint, being a reddish coloured earth covered with small rugged stones and gravel.

On the approach of evening the last ray of hope began to fade away, and the gloom of despair had taken possession of every heart, when Clark called out, A light!—it was the light of a fire.' This at once revived their spirits and diffused new life into all the crew; even certain slavery and probable death at the hand of human beings, now seemed preferable to a lingering death from hunger and thirst on the desolate and dreary Desert. Riley indeed observes that death had now no terrors; that his thirst had become so insupportable that he was willing to sell his life for a gill of fresh water-but though reduced to as miserable a state as human beings could exist in, and objects well calculated to excite pity, even in the breast of a savage Arab, he thought it more prudent to wait till morning, than alarm them with a night visit, which would probably be fatal to the whole party.

After an anxious and sleepless night, they all went forward towards the place where the light had been seen, and soon discovered a large drove of camels, and a company of Arabs busied in watering them; one man and two women ran towards them; the shipwrecked mariners bowed themselves to the ground with every mark of submission, and by signs implored their compassion; but the fellow, being armed with a naked scimitar, made as if he would cut them down, and, assisted by the women, began to strip off their clothing. Other Arabs speedily came up, yelling and throwing sand in the air, and the whole party was presently stripped naked to the skin. The Arabs now began to fight most furiously for the booty, and especially for getting possession of the prisoners.

'They cut at each other over my head, and on every side of me, with their bright weapons, which fairly whizzed through the air within an inch of my naked body, and on every side of me, now hacking each other's arms apparently to the bone, then laying their ribs bare with gashes, while their heads, hands, and thighs received a full share of cuts and wounds. The blood, streaming from every gash, ran down their

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bodies, colouring and heightening the natural hideousness of their appearance. I had expected to be cut to pieces in this dreadful affray, but was not injured.'-p. 66.

Riley and the black cook were delivered into the hands of two old women, who urged them on with sticks towards the camels; they came to a well, the water of which was nearly as black and disgusting as stale bilge water;' but a little sour camel's milk poured from a skin into it, made it taste delicious, and we all drank of it till our stomachs were literally filled; but this washy and unwholesome swill infected the whole party, as might be expected, with a troublesome diarrhea.'

The Arabs themselves had as little to eat as their prisoners; they consisted of about one hundred persons, men, women, and chil dren; and their camels, large and small, from four to five hundred. They now separated into two parties; Mr. Williams, Robbins, Porter, Hogan, Barrett, and Burns, mounted on the bare backs of the camels, behind the hump, going off with one party towards the Desert; Riley, Mr. Savage, Clark, Horace, and Dick the black cook remaining with the other. The skins being filled with this nauseous water, and the baskets tied on, in which the women and children were placed, the latter party also began to mount the sand hills up the gully, but the prisoners were obliged to drive the camels on foot, naked as they were, in a scorching sun, sinking to the knee at every step, or the sharp craggy rocks cutting their naked feet; and if they attempted to stop, they were forced on by the application of a stick to their sore backs by their unfeeling drivers, who only laughed at their misery and amused themselves by whipping them forward.

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On arriving at the summit they selected five camels, which these unfortunate men were ordered to mount. They had no saddles, but were placed behind the humps, to which they were obliged to cling by grasping the long hair with both hands. The back bone,' says Riley, was only covered with skin, and as sharp as the edge of an oar's blade; as steep as the roof of a house, and so broad as to keep the legs extended to their utmost stretch.' The Arabs had small round saddles. Thus mounted, the whole party set off to the westward* at a great trot. The heavy motions of the camel are described as not unlike that of a small vessel tossed by a head-sea, and so violent that they excoriated the lower part of their naked bodies; the inside of my thighs and legs were also dreadfully chafed, so that the blood dripped from my heels, while the intense heat of the sun had scorched and blistered our bodies and the out

* He means eastward. It is a singular circumstance, and to us wholly inexplicable, that the opposite point of the compass is almost invariably printed for the real direction in which they travelled.

side of our legs, so that we were covered with sores, and without any thing to administer relief."

The direction in which they proceeded was about south-east, over a plain, flat, hard surface of sand, gravel, and rock, covered with small sharp stones. When night came on there was no indication of stopping; still they proceeded, and the cold night wind chilled the blood and stopped it from trickling down their lacerated legs; they begged permission to get off, and endeavoured to excite the compassion of the women under whose charge they were left, entreating them for a little water; but these hags paid no attention to their distress, and kept the camels running faster than before. Riley then purposely slipped off his camel at the risk of breaking his neck.

This was the first time I had attempted to walk barefoot since I was a schoolboy; we were obliged to keep up with the camels, running over the stones, which were nearly as sharp as gun-flints, and cutting our feet to the bone at every step. It was here that my fortitude and philosophy failed to support me; I cursed my fate aloud, and wished I had rushed into the sea before I gave myself up to these merciless beings in human forms-it was now too late. I would have put an immediate end to my existence, but had neither knife nor any other weapon with which to perform the deed. I searched for a stone, intending, if I could find a loose one sufficiently large, to knock out my own brains with it; but searched in vain. This paroxysm passed off in a minute or two, when reason returned, and I recollected that my life was in the band of the Power that gave it, and "that the Judge of all the earth would do right."-p. 74.

From this time, Riley observes, in all his future trials and sufferings, he never once murmured, but determined to keep up his spirits, and, by precept and practice, endeavoured to persuade his unhappy comrades to do the same. About midnight they halted in a small dell or valley from fifteen to twenty feet below the surface of the Desert, after travelling, as he thinks, about forty miles. Here, for the first time, they got about a pint of pure camel's milk each, which, he says, 'warmed our stomachs, quenched our thirst in some measure, and allayed, in a great degree, the cravings of hunger. The wind was chilling cold; they lay on sharp stones, perfectly naked, their bodies blistered and mangled; the stones piercing their naked flesh to the ribs-these distressing sufferings, added to their sad desponding reflections that would obtrude themselves, rendered the night long and dismal, and none of them closed their. eyes.

On the morning of the 11th, a pint of milk was divided among four, being just enough to wet their mouths. The condition of their feet was horrible beyond description; the very recollection of it, ' even at this moment,' says our author, makes my nerves thrill and

quiver. They soon came to another small valley, where tents were pitched, and about one hundred and fifty people of all ages and both sexes assembled. Here it appeared they were to be separated, Clark being given to one party, Horace to another, and Riley, with the cook, remaining with their first master. The women came out of the tents to gaze at them, and, by way of expressing their disgust and contempt, spat upon them as they went along, making their faces still more horrid by every possible contortion of their frightful features.' At last an old man came up to Riley, and by his plain and distinct manner of speaking, by his significant signs, and by making use of the words 'O Fransah, O Spaniah,' he understood him to ask what countrymen they were, to which he replied Inglesis; he then asked from what part of the horizon' and I pointed,' says Riley, to the north; he then repeated the words Marocksh, Sooltaan, Moolay Solimaan, to all which Riley nodded assent-that he knew him-that he lived in such a direction-and made signs that if they would carry him and his comrades thither they would receive so much money; but they shook their heads, signifying that the distance was great, and that there was nothing to eat or drink on the way either for them or their camels.

It was midnight before they got any thing either to eat or drink, when some milk and water was given to them. Riley says he this night sunk into a kind of sleep, which was disturbed with the most horrible dreams; that these however were followed by one of a contrary nature, in which he saw a tall young man mounted on a horse, habited in an European dress, who, in his own language, called him brother, and who told him to take courage,' for that 'God had decreed he should again embrace his beloved wife and children' -at this instant his master called him. He awoke, and found it was a dream;' but it was a dream that tended to keep up his spirits, and afterwards, on seeing Mr. Willshire, he immediately recognized the features of the phantom that appeared in his sleep.

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In the evening Hogan joined them, when they found they had been purchased by an Arab of the name of Hamet, who about midnight brought each of them a pint of camel's milk. On the morning of the 13th they again set out, continuing their course about south-east. In the course of the day he came up with Mr. Williams, the chief mate, in a most dreadful situation, who told him that he could not possibly survive another day in such misery. ‘If,' said this unhappy man, you should ever get clear from this dreadful place, and be restored to your country, tell my dear wife that my last breath was spent in prayers for her happiness.'--He could say no more; tears and sobs choked his utterance-and they were separated.

The face of the Desert now appeared as smooth as the surface of the ocean when unruffled by winds, and camels could be seen in every direction, like ships at sea when just appearing in the horizon. In the evening, when they halted, Riley asked the women for a little water, but they not only laughed and spat at him, but drove him away from under the shade of the tent.

On the 20th they made a turn towards the N. W. or sea shore, and when they halted, two strangers came up, each having a double barrelled gun; one of the women told Riley it was Sidi Hamet and his brother, from the Sultan's dominions, who had come with blankets and blue cloth to sell. The former came up to them, and asked Riley if he was el rais, (the captain,) and gave him some water to drink. Poor Clark was then apparently in a dying state, 'stretched out on his back, a perfect wreck of almost naked bones; his belly and back nearly collapsed, and breathing like a person in the last agonies of death.' Sidi Hamet, observing him, suffered Riley to carry him also a little water-it was the first fresh water which they had tasted since they left the boat; the poor creature's eyes brightened up- This is good water,' said he, and must have come from a better country than this; if we were once there, and I could get one good drink of such water, I could die with pleasure, but now I cannot live another day.' About midnight a pint of milk was given to each, which Riley thinks saved Clark from dissolution.

Sidi Hamet was an Arab trader, in whom avarice had not altogether subdued the feelings of humanity. After questioning Riley very closely as to his hopes of redemption at Suara or Mogadore, and what money he would ensure his receiving on being carried thither after much hesitation and a great deal of bargaining, he at length concluded a purchase of him from the old Arab, who had claimed him as his slave; and after many entreaties and assurances of a good round sum of money, he was also induced to purchase Horace, Clark, and Savage, but would have nothing to say to Hogan. In addition to the small quantity of milk they had hitherto received, each of them had been enabled, as they travelled along, to pick up a few snails, which seemed to be the only living creature on the Desert. Sidi Hamet now caused an old meagre camel to be killed, which he had purchased for a blanket. A vein in his neck was first opened close to his breast; the blood was received into a kettle, placed over the fire and boiled, stirring it all the time till it became thick and of the consistence of bullock's liver -'our appetites,' says Riley, 'were voracious, and we soon filled our stomachs with this, to us, delicious food.' The skin being then taken off, the entrails were rolled out, and put into the kettle, without cleaning; as they had no water, a slit was cut in the camel's

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