United States or Tunisia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The only vegetation was a great maze of tamarisk bushes, which stretched from the flat sand-plain on their left to the verge of the lake, and far out into the water, making a refuge and a shelter for the thousands upon thousands of wild duck that peopled the watery waste.
My plan was first to revisit some known good country to the south of Hannan's, and, if unsuccessful, to travel from that point in a more or less north-north-west direction, and so follow, instead of crossing, the trend of the various formations; for in travelling from east to west, or VICE VERSA, one crosses a succession of parallel belts, first a sand-plain, then a ridge of granite, next a timbered flat, then a stretch of auriferous country, with possibly a belt of flat salt-lake country on either side.
During high tides and "northers" the sea washes over the surrounding sand-plain, and Vera Cruz appears almost isolated amid the waves. On one side, however, towards the south, there is variety in the aspect.
With lighter hearts they now gave themselves to sleep; and when the sun began to sink, and the evening wind to pass over the sand-plain, they struck their tents, and marched on. The next day they halted safely, only one day's journey from the entrance of the desert. When the travellers had once more collected in the large tent, Lezah, the merchant, took up the discourse.
This sentry was the one stationed to the south of the douar; and with eyes constantly striving to pierce the darkness that shrouded the sand-plain, the water, on which a better light was reflected, received no attention from him. He believed the douar well protected on the side of the sea, for he had no idea that danger could come from that direction. He was mistaken.
The lines of circum-vallation lapped closer and closer around the devoted city, until the American pickets appeared along the ridges of the nearest hills, and within range of the guns of Santiago, Concepcion, and Xjuoa. A smooth sand-plain, only a mile in width, lay between the besiegers and the walls of the besieged.
On the evening of that same day they saw the sun sink down into a shining horizon, which they knew was not that of the burning sand-plain over which they had been so long moving. That faint and distant view of his favourite element was a joyful moment for the old sailor. "We are in sight of home!" he exclaimed. "Shiver my timbers if I ever lose sight of it again! I shan't be buried in the sand.
For about eleven and a half miles, over an immense sand-plain, running as far as the eye could reach to the North-West and South-East, we camped in the centre of it at a spring called Manginie, a sheep station belonging to Mr. James Church. Towards the end of the day Bailey's horse Tommy fairly gave in, and we had great difficulty in getting him to camp, which Mr.
Emerging on the open sand-plain somewhat unexpectedly, I caused my party no little alarm; they instinctively grasped their rifles, imagining the approach of a party of hostile Indians. The constant dread of molestation causes the traveller here to be ever on the qui-vive, the precaution being highly necessary, to prevent surprise.
Word Of The Day