DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11789#0142
132
A NEW ENEMY.
somewhat remarkable character. Innumerable lit-
tle gnats, that made up by their activity for every
other defect, seemed to fill all the air. Whole
armies of them would get into one's ears, and there
exercise themselves, whether in real battles or sham
fights, I will not undertake to say. It was utterly
impossible to exclude them from the beard, hair, or
eyes ; even a handkerchief, drawn ever so tightly
round the head, seemed to afford but little or no
protection. For a time our suffering was so great
that we began to think that the pleasure of seeing
even this glorious country, might be purchased at
too dear a rate. In truth, I had rather encounter
at once all the wolves, jackals, and fleas (nota bene,
I place the most formidable last), in Palestine;
nay, I had rather be beset with an army of hungry
Arabs, crying on every side of me " bucksheesh,"
than again endure what I endured that clay from
these little Eumenides. The words attributed by
the poet to the other species, might with equal truth
be applied to this.
"Und glaubt er fliehend zu entspringen,
Gefliigelt sind wir da.*
* The Furies themselves are represented as speaking of
one whom they are commissioned to torment: " And if ho
"by fleeing thinks to escape, we with our wings are [already]
there."—Schiller's Kraniche von Ibicus.
A NEW ENEMY.
somewhat remarkable character. Innumerable lit-
tle gnats, that made up by their activity for every
other defect, seemed to fill all the air. Whole
armies of them would get into one's ears, and there
exercise themselves, whether in real battles or sham
fights, I will not undertake to say. It was utterly
impossible to exclude them from the beard, hair, or
eyes ; even a handkerchief, drawn ever so tightly
round the head, seemed to afford but little or no
protection. For a time our suffering was so great
that we began to think that the pleasure of seeing
even this glorious country, might be purchased at
too dear a rate. In truth, I had rather encounter
at once all the wolves, jackals, and fleas (nota bene,
I place the most formidable last), in Palestine;
nay, I had rather be beset with an army of hungry
Arabs, crying on every side of me " bucksheesh,"
than again endure what I endured that clay from
these little Eumenides. The words attributed by
the poet to the other species, might with equal truth
be applied to this.
"Und glaubt er fliehend zu entspringen,
Gefliigelt sind wir da.*
* The Furies themselves are represented as speaking of
one whom they are commissioned to torment: " And if ho
"by fleeing thinks to escape, we with our wings are [already]
there."—Schiller's Kraniche von Ibicus.