DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4592#0060
60 VENISILLAMA.
protectors, through the dangerous region of Arabia
Petra. Their tents were black, and their persons,
with every thing around them,, bore a wild and savage
appearance. At half past ten, P. M.,. our men refused,
to proceed any further that night on any conditions,,
though the wind was favorable. This was truly vex-
atious, but what could we do but submit 1
When morning light came, we found ourselves lying
beside a miserable village called Venisiliama, on the
Lybian side of the river. All we had left for our
breakfast, were a few eggs, some hard dry bread, and
some coffee. We commissioned Selim to try at this
village for some fowls and milk. I walked with him
through several of its miserable lanes, but he oould
purchase nothing, though I saw plenty of fowls and
cattle. This village was built very compact, its streets
being not more than six or eight feet wide. The
houses were all constructed of mud, and built in every
imaginable form. * Some of them were square and
covered with loose bamboo reedsr while others were
round and covered in the same manner. The shape
of some of the houses resembled that of a coal-pit just
covered, or a straw bee-hive; while others were
constructed in form like an oven, with a similar mouth
for entrance. The door cr entrance into any habita-
tion, was a mere ill-shapen breach in the wall. Cow
yards and sheep folds were mixed in with the houses
in every part of the village. It is extremely difficult
to accurately estimate the population of an Arabian
village. They most probably range from three hun-
dred to fifteen hundred souls. At this place the Lyb-
ian desert comes down to the Nile. There is, indeed,
protectors, through the dangerous region of Arabia
Petra. Their tents were black, and their persons,
with every thing around them,, bore a wild and savage
appearance. At half past ten, P. M.,. our men refused,
to proceed any further that night on any conditions,,
though the wind was favorable. This was truly vex-
atious, but what could we do but submit 1
When morning light came, we found ourselves lying
beside a miserable village called Venisiliama, on the
Lybian side of the river. All we had left for our
breakfast, were a few eggs, some hard dry bread, and
some coffee. We commissioned Selim to try at this
village for some fowls and milk. I walked with him
through several of its miserable lanes, but he oould
purchase nothing, though I saw plenty of fowls and
cattle. This village was built very compact, its streets
being not more than six or eight feet wide. The
houses were all constructed of mud, and built in every
imaginable form. * Some of them were square and
covered with loose bamboo reedsr while others were
round and covered in the same manner. The shape
of some of the houses resembled that of a coal-pit just
covered, or a straw bee-hive; while others were
constructed in form like an oven, with a similar mouth
for entrance. The door cr entrance into any habita-
tion, was a mere ill-shapen breach in the wall. Cow
yards and sheep folds were mixed in with the houses
in every part of the village. It is extremely difficult
to accurately estimate the population of an Arabian
village. They most probably range from three hun-
dred to fifteen hundred souls. At this place the Lyb-
ian desert comes down to the Nile. There is, indeed,