character of unmistakeable neglect. There is neither olive, fruit tree, nor timber tree, nor, except a few stunted shrubs, a plant, or a blade of grass to be seen either in the valley or on any of the surrounding hills.

In the short remains of daylight, whilst our tent was being pitched, Mr. Hunt and I climbed to the top of the highest hill, which overlooks the encampment, he to make a sketch of it and the valley and its border of mountains, and I to admire in quiet the magnificence of the evening sky. The eastern hills of burnished violet and purple, were clad in hues so brilliant, that even his magic pencil must fail to transfer them to canvas, while the pen would attempt to paint them in vain. The whole sky glowed with a softened rosy light, such as fancy may imagine for the canopy of the happy valley in Rasselas.

As night closed the flocks were brought in, and placed within the circular enclosure made by the tents, that being the fold, where these " shepherds pen their flocks at eve." There was a great bleating of the flocks as they were driven in, and each arrival was greeted by a still louder barking of the dogs.

When this was ended, there was a long funeral lament by the women over one of the encampment, whose interment had just taken place.

To-day I seem to have seen society in its two extremes. At Hebron, where I began the day, Abraham once dwelt, and cities may almost be said to have had their birth; while the wilderness where I now am, is still inhabited, as in Abraham's day, by those who dwell in tents, repel civilisation, and affect to live like the patriarchs, though they are not the sons of promise, but of Ishmael.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24.

THE bleating and lowing of the flocks and herds as they left the encampment this morning for their several feeding grounds, and the grand chorus of dogs which accompanied each successive departure, a noise which seemed more natural here than when it made night hideous in Alexandria, Ramleh, and the other cities, where I had heard it, awaked me at an early hour. I had hardly dressed, however, when it was announced that Abou Daouk had returned, and was about to wait upon us. We therefore hastened coffee, spread our best carpet on a divan outside the tent, seated ourselves upon it, and shortly afterwards the chief approached. He was a tall swarthy personage of about

sixty, and his walk was majestic and stately. He wore the caphia, with its double coil, on his head, a white shirt, and the flowing Abbaye cloak, but his figure was gaunt, his beard coarse and grizzled, and his features harsh. He had lost a fore tooth, had grey cat-like eyes, and his whole expression was unprepossessing. We saluted each other by shaking hands, after which, on our invitation, he took a seat beside us. When he was seated many of his people came up to join our conference, and such of them as either by absence or from other causes had not seen the sheik for some days, affectionately and respectfully saluted him by taking his hand, and then kissing him on both cheeks. In a few minutes not fewer than thirty of these sons of the desert, all armed with guns, dressed like their chief, and wearing sandals on their feet, were gathered round us, some crouching on their haunches, others kneeling on one knee, and the rest standing behind and bending in graceful posture over the others. All of them had dark bronze complexions, and two of them had negro features. Between some of them, as they arrived, similar salutations to those which had greeted the sheik took place. After coffee, having informed the sheik that we were the bearers to him of an autograph letter from the consul, we delivered it into his hands, and he placed it respectfully in

his bosom. In the desert, as in the city, it would appear that they who most need prayers are those who know them least. The sheik does not even know the usual Moslem prayers, for in his reply to the consul's inquiry how they managed their devotions in the desert, "Oh," he said, "we only attend to them in Ramadan, and then we have a mollah from Jerusalem to teach us, and say them with us and for us." How different these interrupted prayers from the practice of faithful Abraham, who walked with God, and dwelt in tents in these wilds! Inferring from his ignorance that he could not read, we gave him the substance of the letter without its compliments, but at his request the letter was read to him at length. Whilst it was read, his circle of armed followers, resting their chins upon the stems of their pipes, showing rows of teeth faultless and whiter than ivory, and, with flashes of wildness from their cat-like eyes, formed a scene which a Salvator or an Allan might have studied. After the letter had been read, we informed him that it was our wish to visit the Dead Sea, and to have from him three of his followers to guide us as far as his territories extended. He lent a ready ear to our request to send men with us, but he could not, he said, answer for our safety if we took a less number than five, for which we must pay after the rate

of fifty piasters for each. When we had agreed to this and thought the business settled, the sheik called one of our servants aside and informed him privately that he should require from us two hundred piasters for himself. There occurred a few small protocols between our servant and this great prince, and in the end he accepted from us one hundred piasters as a backsheish, and shortly afterwards we mounted and set forward attended by our five Jehalin. Our way lay up the bed of a mountain torrent, by a somewhat steep but not difficult road; near the summit, where the wady ended, an Arab, naked all but his waist, was filling some watering troughs for his flocks of sheep and goats, and we got him to fill our water-skins and then went on our way. At the summit, we came upon a plateau of rich table land, capable of yielding crops of wheat and other grain, for which, small parts of it were now prepared. Upon this plain, which we crossed for an extent of five miles, I saw a few camels browsing the stunted netsch, but no other animals, except one or two wild hogs, which owe their safety to their being unclean in Moslem eyes, a hawk, a covey of red-legged partridges, and a few gazelles, the harts of Scripture and the antilope Arabica of natural history, beautiful and elegant animals, like deer, with short horns, curving slightly backwards, with which