mislah

Updated: June 28, 2025

Whilst mourning over this horrible scene of monotonous desolation, and wondering why such regions were created in vain, we came upon The Wells of Mislah, where we encamped for the day. These are not properly wells, for the sand being removed in various places, about four or five feet below the surface, the water runs out. Indeed, we were obliged to make our own wells.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846

Here is a sufficient proof, at once, that The Desert has no sandy waves like the Desert Ocean of waters, as poets and credulous or exaggerating writers have been pleased to inform us. Were this the case, the wells of Mislah would have been long ago heaped up and over with pile upon pile of sand-hills, and caravans would have abandoned for ever this line of route.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846

Certainly I require no supply of sand when turning over my sheet wet with the ink. Before we get to the water, we are obliged to scoop out the sand as at Mislah. Many pits in Sahara are in this predicament. But we are infinitely more repaid for our pains, for we find most refreshing nectar-like water, as good as the last was bad. I imagine I drank off a full gallon at once.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846