The exterior
was brown, and appeared to be rich in iron. The smaller specimens
were the more perfect spheres, as they cooled quickly, but many
of the heavier masses had evidently reached the earth when only
half solidified, and had collapsed upon falling. The sandy plain
was covered with such vestiges of volcanic action, and the
infernal bombs lay as imperishable relics of a hail-storm such as
may have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Passing through this wretched solitude we entered upon a scene of
surpassing desolation. Far as the eye could reach were waves like
a stormy sea, grey, cold-looking waves in the burning heat; but
no drop of water: it appeared as though a sudden curse had turned
a raging sea to stone. The simoom blew over this horrible
wilderness, and drifted the hot sand into the crevices of the
rocks, and the camels drooped their heads before the suffocating
wind; but still the caravan noiselessly crept along over the
rocky undulations, until the stormy sea was passed: once more we
were upon a boundless plain of sand and pebbles.
Here every now and then we discovered withered melons (Cucumis
colocynthis); the leaves had long since disappeared, and the
shrivelled stalks were brittle as glass.
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