"So dreadful a desert is this between Korosko and Abou Hammed,
that Said Pasha ordered the route to be closed; but it was
re-opened upon the application of foreign consuls, as the most
direct road to the Soudan. Our Bishareen Arabs are first-rate
walkers, as they have performed the entire journey on foot. Their
water and provisions were all exhausted yesterday, but
fortunately I had guarded the key of my two water-casks; thus I
had a supply when every water-skin was empty, and on the last day
I divided my sacred stock amongst the men, and the still more
thirsty camels. In the hot months, a camel cannot march longer
than three days without drinking, unless at the cost of great
suffering.
"Having arrived here (Abou Hammed) at 4.25 this morning, 23d May,
I had the luxury of a bath. The very sight of the Nile was
delightful, after the parched desolation of the last seven days.
The small village is utterly destitute of everything, and the
sterile desert extends to the very margin of the Nile. The
journey having occupied ninety-two hours of actual marching
across the desert, gives 230 miles as the distance from Korosko,
at the loaded-camel rate of two and a half miles per hour.
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