I Soon Became Sensible, However, That My Situation Was Very Deplorable;
For I Had No Means Of Procuring Food, Nor
Prospect of finding water.
About ten o'clock, perceiving a herd of goats feeding close to the road,
I took a
Circuitous route to avoid being seen; and continued travelling
through the wilderness, directing my course, by compass, nearly
east-south-east, in order to reach, as soon as possible, some town or
village of the kingdom of Bambarra.
A little after noon, when the burning heat of the sun was reflected with
double violence from the hot sand, and the distant ridges of the hills,
seen through the ascending vapour, seemed to wave and fluctuate like the
unsettled sea, I became faint with thirst, and climbed a tree in hopes of
seeing distant smoke, or some other appearance of a human habitation; but
in vain, nothing appeared all around but thick underwood and hillocks of
white sand.
About four o'clock, I came suddenly upon a large herd of goats, and,
pulling my horse into a bush, I watched to observe if, the keepers were
Moors or Negroes. In a little time I perceived two Moorish boys, and with
some difficulty persuaded them to approach me. They informed me that the
herd belonged to Ali, and that they were going to Deena, where the water
was more plentiful, and where they intended to stay until the rain had
filled the pools in the Desert. They showed me their empty water-skins,
and told me that they had seen no water in the woods. This account
afforded me but little consolation; however, it was in vain to repine,
and I pushed on as fast as possible, in hopes of reaching some
watering-place in the course of the night. My thirst was by this time
become insufferable; my mouth was parched and inflamed; a sudden dimness
would frequently come over my eyes, with other symptoms of fainting; and
my horse being very much fatigued, I began seriously to apprehend that I
should perish of thirst. To relieve the burning pain in my mouth and
throat, I chewed the leaves of different shrubs, but found them all
bitter, and of no service.
A little before sunset, having reached the top of a gentle rising, I
climbed a high tree, from the topmost branches of which I cast a
melancholy look over the barren Wilderness, but without discovering the
most distant trace of a human dwelling. The same dismal uniformity of
shrubs and sand every where presented itself, and the horizon was as
level and uninterrupted as that of the sea.
Descending from the tree, I found my horse devouring the stubble and
brushwood with great avidity; and as I was now too faint to attempt
walking, and my horse too much fatigued to carry me, I thought it but an
act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should ever have it in my power
to perform, to take off his bridle and let him shift for himself; in
doing which I was suddenly affected with sickness and giddiness; and
falling upon the sand, felt as if the hour of death was fast approaching.
"Here, then, (thought I,) after a short but ineffectual struggle,
terminate all my hopes of being useful in my day and generation; here
must the short span of my life come to an end." I cast (as I believed) a
last look on the surrounding scene, and whilst I reflected on the awful
change that was about to take place, this world with its enjoyments
seemed to vanish from my recollection.
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