DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5504#0078
166 Travels tit Greece, Turkey, and the Holy Land,
The Arabs of this territory have not forgotten the visit paid
them by the French : they pointed out to us tlie different
positions their troops had occupied, and the places which had
been the scene of the most obstinate conflicts, throwing into
the air handfulls of sand to denote the numbers of the slain. W e
were supplied with fish, which we cooked in the best way we
could, and with fresh dates of an exquisite flavour.
After a progress of two hours along the sea-shore, wc came
to a well of turbid water, winch was, however, passably good :
our skins* were filled, and our caravan took the direction of
the mountains towards the great Desert. In proceeding, the
traveller has to cross, either sands intersected by very low
hills, or plains immensurably spread, covered with a saline
crust of a dazzling Avhiteness. At the horizon are to be seen
shifting downs, on the surface of which the different directions
of the winds impress varied forms: these represent, with
great regularity, the gutters of a column, festoons, and, more
frequently, waves similar to those the sea delineates on the
strand. The water of the Mediterranean flows in by the
valleys when the north winds prevail; and what is left of this
water in the lowest of the plains, forms immense natural salt-
pans. At intervals, and these very distant from each other,
are to be found small tufts of a blackish and prickly heath.
The herds of antelopes are so numerous as in a great measure
to obscure the horizon. A few hares, the course of which the
eye is enabled to follow for nearly a league, and a few tortoises
crawling slowly to their retreat: these, and these alone, are
the objects which attract the traveller's notice in the Desert.
Not the warbling of one bird meets his ear to cheer this land-
scape, the monotony of which is so awfully striking : the
solemn stillness of the scene is alone interrupted by the thun-
derclap, or by the deaf bowlings of the tempest.
An Arab showed me, on a small mound of white sand, the
recent tracks of a wild beast which had crossed it with its
young, perhaps a few minutes before our passage. We fell in
with two caravans only : several Arab women followed the
latter on foot, carrying their children on the hips, and a pit-
cher on the head. Their husbands were naked, with the ex-
ception of the loins, which were covered with a leathern
girdle, to which was attached a piece of stuff as small as
could be well contrived for the purpose.
The Arab of the Desert is a far superior character to the
Arab who dwells in a city: he is hospitable, faithful to his
* Goat-skins made to hold liquors.
The Arabs of this territory have not forgotten the visit paid
them by the French : they pointed out to us tlie different
positions their troops had occupied, and the places which had
been the scene of the most obstinate conflicts, throwing into
the air handfulls of sand to denote the numbers of the slain. W e
were supplied with fish, which we cooked in the best way we
could, and with fresh dates of an exquisite flavour.
After a progress of two hours along the sea-shore, wc came
to a well of turbid water, winch was, however, passably good :
our skins* were filled, and our caravan took the direction of
the mountains towards the great Desert. In proceeding, the
traveller has to cross, either sands intersected by very low
hills, or plains immensurably spread, covered with a saline
crust of a dazzling Avhiteness. At the horizon are to be seen
shifting downs, on the surface of which the different directions
of the winds impress varied forms: these represent, with
great regularity, the gutters of a column, festoons, and, more
frequently, waves similar to those the sea delineates on the
strand. The water of the Mediterranean flows in by the
valleys when the north winds prevail; and what is left of this
water in the lowest of the plains, forms immense natural salt-
pans. At intervals, and these very distant from each other,
are to be found small tufts of a blackish and prickly heath.
The herds of antelopes are so numerous as in a great measure
to obscure the horizon. A few hares, the course of which the
eye is enabled to follow for nearly a league, and a few tortoises
crawling slowly to their retreat: these, and these alone, are
the objects which attract the traveller's notice in the Desert.
Not the warbling of one bird meets his ear to cheer this land-
scape, the monotony of which is so awfully striking : the
solemn stillness of the scene is alone interrupted by the thun-
derclap, or by the deaf bowlings of the tempest.
An Arab showed me, on a small mound of white sand, the
recent tracks of a wild beast which had crossed it with its
young, perhaps a few minutes before our passage. We fell in
with two caravans only : several Arab women followed the
latter on foot, carrying their children on the hips, and a pit-
cher on the head. Their husbands were naked, with the ex-
ception of the loins, which were covered with a leathern
girdle, to which was attached a piece of stuff as small as
could be well contrived for the purpose.
The Arab of the Desert is a far superior character to the
Arab who dwells in a city: he is hospitable, faithful to his
* Goat-skins made to hold liquors.