DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0035
A SANTON.
27
ing, a large heap of the coral which Paul had been so
careful in carrying ; and after that he talked only
of his shells, the value of which was not yet ascer-
tained.
At about twelve o'clock, close by the shore, we
came to a stunted wild palm-tree, with a small
stone fence around it; and, looking down from
my dromedary, I saw extended on the ground the
figure of an Arab. I at first thought he was dead ;
but at the noise of our approach he raised his
head from a stone which served him as a pillow,
and the first greeting he gave us was to ask for
bread. Among all the habitations of hermits I had
yet seen, in caves, among rocks or mountains, there
was none which could be compared with this by
the shore of the sea; a small fence, but little higher
than his recumbent body, protected him from the
wind ; the withered branches of the palm-tree were
his only covering; his pillow a stone, and the bare
earth his bed ; and when he crawled out and stood
before us, erect as age and infirmity would allow,
I thought I had never seen such a miserable figure.
1 could not have believed, without seeing it, that
any thing so wretched, made in God's image, ex-
isted on the earth. He was more than sixty ; his
face was dried, and seamed with the deep wrinkles
of age and exposure ; his beard long and white ;
and his body thin to emaciation. Over his shoul-
ders and breast was a miserable covering of rags,
but the rest of his body was perfectly naked ; his
skin was dry, horny, and covered with blotches re-
27
ing, a large heap of the coral which Paul had been so
careful in carrying ; and after that he talked only
of his shells, the value of which was not yet ascer-
tained.
At about twelve o'clock, close by the shore, we
came to a stunted wild palm-tree, with a small
stone fence around it; and, looking down from
my dromedary, I saw extended on the ground the
figure of an Arab. I at first thought he was dead ;
but at the noise of our approach he raised his
head from a stone which served him as a pillow,
and the first greeting he gave us was to ask for
bread. Among all the habitations of hermits I had
yet seen, in caves, among rocks or mountains, there
was none which could be compared with this by
the shore of the sea; a small fence, but little higher
than his recumbent body, protected him from the
wind ; the withered branches of the palm-tree were
his only covering; his pillow a stone, and the bare
earth his bed ; and when he crawled out and stood
before us, erect as age and infirmity would allow,
I thought I had never seen such a miserable figure.
1 could not have believed, without seeing it, that
any thing so wretched, made in God's image, ex-
isted on the earth. He was more than sixty ; his
face was dried, and seamed with the deep wrinkles
of age and exposure ; his beard long and white ;
and his body thin to emaciation. Over his shoul-
ders and breast was a miserable covering of rags,
but the rest of his body was perfectly naked ; his
skin was dry, horny, and covered with blotches re-