In the afternoon, their track was on the same plain; and near sunset they began ascending high sand-hills, one appearing as if heaped upon the other.  The guide ran before, to endeavour to find out the easiest track, with all the agility of a boy.  The presence of nothing but deep sandy valleys and high sand-hills strikes the mind most forcibly.  There is something of the sublime mixed with the melancholy; who can contemplate without admiration masses of loose sand, fully four hundred feet high, ready to be tossed about by every breeze, and not shudder with horror at the idea of the unfortunate traveller being entombed in a moment by one of those fatal blasts, which sometimes occur.  They halted for the night on the top of one of these sand-hills.

For three or four days their course still lay among the sand-hills; their guide, whom they now styled Mahomet Ben Kami, or son of the sand, was almost always on before, endeavouring to find out the best way.  They could detect in the sand numerous footmarks of the jackal and the fox, and here and there a solitary antelope.  In some of the wadeys there were a great many fragments of the ostrich egg.  About mid-day, they halted in a valley, and remained under the shade of some date trees for a few hours.  The heat was oppressive, and their travelling was difficult They next came to an extensive level plain, which was some refreshment, for they were completely tired of ascending and descending sand-hills.  The servants strayed, proceeding on a track, which was pointed out to them as the right one, and, before they were aware of their error, they went so far that they were not able to send after them.  They, as well as themselves, thought the town was near, and they went forwards, with the intention of getting in before the remainder of the party could come up.  They felt exceedingly uneasy respecting them, as they might so easily lose themselves in such intricate travelling.  They halted in low spirits, and, after a little refreshment, went to sleep with heavy hearts.

During the night, some strong breezes sprang up, by which their trunks and bed-clothes were all covered with sand in the morning.  They heard nothing of their servants, and consoled themselves that they had perhaps found some place of shelter or rest.  They commenced their journey early, and in a short time the hills of Wadey Shiati were seen stretching east and west, and the date-palms in several groves; but some high sand-hills were seen between them.  They wished their old guide to take them a more direct course, but notwithstanding their desire, and even threats, he persevered in having his way; and, to do the old man justice, they afterwards found it would almost have been impossible for the camels to have gone the way they wished.  After passing the base of some high sand-hills, they came to a strong pass, of gentle descent, covered with loose fragments of quartz rock, a yellowish feldspar, and iron ore, very similar to the rocks in the Sebah district.  From this place the town opened to their view, erected on a hill about three hundred feet high, standing in the middle of the valley, and has the appearance, at a distance, of a hill studded over with basaltic columns.  They had no idea that the town was built on the hill, and consequently that the deception was produced by it.