ten o’clock in the evening
Giraffes , antelopes , and ostriches were seen running and bounding with marvellous agility in the midst of forests of acacias , mimosas , souahs , and date-trees . After the barrenness of the desert , vegetation was now resuming its empire . This was the country of the Kailouas , who veil their faces with a bandage of cotton , like their dangerous neighbors , the Touaregs . At ten o'clock in the evening , after a splendid trip of two hundred and fifty miles , the Victoria halted over an important town . The moonlight revealed glimpses of one district half in ruins ; and some pinnacles of mosques and minarets shot up here and there , glistening in the silvery rays . The doctor took a stellar observation , and discovered that he was in the latitude of Aghades . This city , once the seat of an immense trade , was already falling into ruin when Dr. Barth visited it .