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The natives also made a porridge out of barley and water - and [[underlined]] sand [[/underlined]]. We could only nibble at it for it was very tasteless and very gritty too. Porridge peanuts and some strong tea were the only things we saw them eat night after night.

We ate chocolate, cheese, pork and eggs, and boullion night and day. We do an awful lot of dreaming and talking about thick steaks, chops, milkshakes, cokes, etc. How lucky Americans are!

Thursday - March 18, 1943:

This is a very exasperating morning. For one think we wanted to get started early to hurry to our destination. Still 2 days away. It seems like the natives lost a camel. Anyway, it took us until 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon to find that out. Four natives sat around sleeping and talking and two were out rounding up their 23 camels that roamed over the desert to graze.

Well, we were ready to spend another night at the same place when lo and behold, they found the lost camel. They packed; and we were off at 3:00 p.m. - usually the time we made camp. Someone was crazy - and they take things so easy and quiet. Beats us.

We travelled until 6:00 p.m. and made camp and a much better spot than any of our others. Everything was much greener and we suspected we were very near Chunguetti - we hope.

We made camp, ate peanuts, fixed some hot bouillion and prepared ourselves for bed - a misnomer.

The wind died down. It was a very calm night, but still rather cold - and how. All of us got in at least 4 hours sleep and were up again at 5:00 a.m. ready to get going again.

We found out that two of our native friends had backed a camel and had gone on ahead - as yet, we didn't know their purpose. How thankful we were they did, and we were due for the surprise of our lives. Simple loving people, these Arabs, and faithful to the very end.

Friday - March 19, 1943:

We fixed ourselves some hot chocolate [[underlined]] again [[/underlined]] and had another can of eggs and chopped ham. We were all set to go and very anxious, but didn't actually get started until 9:00 a.m.

Weidner and Petchal helped the Arabs pack their camels for they were short-handed as two of their men had gone on ahead the night before.

Another caravan had camped in a nearby clearing and we were more or less together during the trip through the sand dunes and hilltop.

The beginning of the trip was very fine. He had some fairly good-looking scenery; by this I mean, there were a few trees scattered about and some green vegetation - and the topography was quite level.

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