Sahara, also written “Sara,” “Zara,” and “Zaara.” This name (which means desert) is given to the expanse of territory found between Biledulgerid to the north and Nigritia to the south. It is Ptolemy’s Inner Libya, in which he also includes part of Numidia and lower Ethiopia.

These vast deserts of Barbary contain only arid, sandy, uninhabitable places, where one can go fifty miles without finding a glass of water; the sun beams down blazing hot rays; and the merchants who leave Barbary to travel into Nigritia bring not only camels loaded with merchandise but also some whose sole purpose is to carry water. Even with this precaution, they make their voyages only after the rains, in order to find milk and butter along the route. Still, as they make their way, they sometimes experience horrible winds, which transport mountains of sand that suffocate men and camels alike.

“A stifling wind blows an unbearable heat from the furnace from which it comes, and from the vast extent of burning sand. The traveler is struck by a mortal blow. The camel, son of the desert, accustomed to thirst and fatigue, feels its heart withered by this breath of fire. All of a sudden, the sand begins to swirl under the force of the whirlwind; it piles up and blocks the air; the desert seems to rise until the storm envelopes everything. If, during the night, the fatal whirlwind overtakes a caravan buried in sleep under the shelter of some hill, they will remain there – entombed. The impatient merchant on the streets of Cairo waits in vain; Mecca is distressed by this long delay, and Tombut despairs.” [1]

1. An excerpt from The Seasons , a 5500-line blank-verse English poem written by Scotsman James Thompson in 1730 and translated into French as Saisons de Thompson by Madame Bontems in 1759.