partly from a kind of wild instinct which has always characterised the descendants of Ishmael, but partly, too, from a well-founded apprehension of ill-treatment. So often it befalls the poor Bedouin (when once entrapped between walls) to be seized by the Government authorities for the sake of his camels, that his innate horror of cities becomes really justified by results.

The Bedouins with whom I performed this journey were wild fellows of the Desert, quite unaccustomed to let out themselves or their beasts for hire; and when they found that by the natural ascendancy of Europeans they were gradually brought down to a state of subserviency to me, or rather to my attendants, they bitterly repented, I believe, of having placed themselves under our control. They were rather difficult fellows to manage, and gave Dthemetri, a good deal of trouble, but I liked them all the better for that.

Selim, the chief of the party, and the man to whom all our camels belonged, was a fine, savage, stately fellow. There were, I think, five other Arabs of the party; but when we approached the end of the journey, they, one by one, began to 'make off towards the neighbouring encampments, and by the time that the minarets of Gaza were in sight, Selim, the owner of the camels, was the only one who remained. He, poor fellow, as we neared the town, began to discover the same

terrors that my Arabs had shown when I entered Cairo. I could not possibly accede to his entreaties, and consent to let my baggage be laid down on the bare sands, without any means of having it brought on into the city. So at length, when poor Selim had exhausted all his rhetoric of voice and action and tears, he fixed his despairing eyes for a minute upon the cherished beasts that were his only wealth, and then suddenly and madly dashed away into the farther Desert. I continued

my course and reached the city at last, but it was not without immense difficulty that we could constrain the poor camels to pass under the hated shadow of its walls. They were the genuine beasts of the Desert, and it was sad and painful to witness the agony they suffered when thus they were forced to encounter the fixed habitations of men. They shrank from the beginning of every high narrow street as though from the entrance of some horrible cave or bottomless pit; they sighed and wept like women. When at last

we got them within the courtyard of the khan, they seemed to be quite broken-hearted, and looked round piteously for their loving master; but no Selim came. I had imagined that he would enter the town secretly by night, in order to carry off those five fine camels, his only wealth in this world, and seemingly the main objects of his affection. But no-his dread of civilisation

was too strong. During the whole of the three days that I remained at Gaza he failed to show himself, and thus sacrificed in all probability, not only his camels, but the money which I had stipulated to pay him for the passage of the Desert. In order, however, to do all I could towards saving him from this last misfortune, I resorted to a contrivance frequently adopted by the Asiatics. I assembled a group of grave and worthy Mussulmans in the courtyard of the khan, and in their presence paid over the gold to a sheik well known in the place and accustomed to communicate with the Arabs of the Desert. Then all present solemnly promised that, if ever Selim should come to claim his rights, they would bear true witness in his favour.

I saw a great deal of my old friend the governor of Gaza. He had received orders to send back all persons coming from Egypt, and force them to perform quarantine at El Arish. He knew so little of quarantine regulations, however, that his dress was actually in contact with mine whilst he insisted upon the stringency of the orders which he had received. He was induced to make an exception in my favour, and I rewarded him with a musical snuff-box-a toy which I had bought at Smyrna for the purpose of presenting it to any man in authority who might happen to do me an important service. The governor was delighted

with the gift, and in great exultation and glee, he carried it off to his harem. Soon, however, poor

fellow, he returned with an altered countenance :

his wives, he said, had got hold of the box, and had put it quite out of order. So short-lived is

human happiness in this frail world!

The governor fancied that he should incur less risk if I remained at Gaza for two or three days more, and he wanted me to become his guest. I persuaded him, however, that it would be better for him to let me depart at once. He wanted to add to my baggage a roast lamb, and a quantity of other cumbrous viands, but I escaped with half a horse-load of leaven-bread; this was very good of its kind, and proved a most useful present. The air with which the governor's slaves affected to be almost breaking down under the weight of the gifts, reminded me of the figures one sees in some of the old pictures.

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CHAPTER XXIV.

GAZA TO NABLOUS.

PASSING now once again through Palestine and Syria, I retained the tent which I had used in the Desert, and found that it added very much to my comfort in travelling. Instead of turning out a family from some wretched dwelling, and depriving them of rest without gaining rest for myself, I now, when evening came, pitched my tent upon some smiling spot within a few hundred yards of the village to which I looked for my supplies,—that is, for milk, for bread (if I had it not with me), and sometimes also for eggs. The worst of it was that the needful viands were not to be obtained by coin, but only by intimidation. first tried the usual agent-money. Dthemetri, with one or two of my Arabs, went into the village near which I was encamped, and tried to buy the required provisions, offering liberal payment, but he came back empty-handed. I sent him again, but this time he held different language: