The bottom is a dead flat, and forms a valley of sand about two hundred and fifty yards wide.

In this bosom of a crater, salt and bitter water is found at a depth of only six feet from the surface.

To this our tired camels frantically rushed upon being unloaded.
The valley was a "valley of dry bones." Innumerable skeletons of camels lay in all directions-the ships of the desert thus stranded on their voyage.

Withered heaps of parched skin and bone lay here and there, in the distinct forms in which the camels had gasped their last.

The dry desert air had converted the hide into a coffin.