one o f his ancestors, and which then lived on Battus, though they have since become wanderers. My new acquaintance was elegantly armed, having an embroidered belt, silver scabbarded sword, and well mounted pistols. He had received a wound in his arm in the mountain wars (when his tribe resisted the Bashaw), and imagined this to be the cause of a cough which at times troubled him. H e was not well pleased with our laughing at his way of accounting for his complaint. All the dogs here being white, the liver-coloured pointers which had followed us from the Consulate caused the women and children to fly on their approach, from the idea that they were wolves. There are many Jews living in these mountains, whose dwellings are much cleaner and better excavated than those of the Arabs, and are also neatly whitewashed. These people, as in Tripoli, are the only handicraftsmen, and seem here to be rather better treated than elsewhere. I t rained very hard this night, and was very cold; but under shelter of our tent we kept ourselves warm and dry. From the village we had observed a mountain called Tekoot cujiW, to bear south 28° west. Wednesday, February 10th.—At 7.10. A. M. we left Beni abbas, and went on for the Castle of Gharian, or Gusser Turk After having proceeded over the plain, and reached the mountains that rise from it, we climbed a steep peak, and making our way along a sharp ledge on its top, again ascended to the mountain of Tekoot, the principal of the range. From this point we took the bearings of the following remarkable objects : Beni abbas, north 33° east. Gusser Turk, south 35° west. A mountain called Meroobi, south 55° east, and another mountain, west 5° south, distant about twenty-five miles, inhabited at this time by a rebel tribe under a1 chief called Kaleefa. Owing to the height of the spot on which we stood, we found it difficult to distinguish many objects, which from the plain had appeared very conspicuous. Unfortunately, before we ascended this mountain we had broken our Barometer, and were thence unable to ascertain its precise elevation. Here is the tomb of a Maraboot, whose sanctity is the subject of many extraordinary stories. It was from hence that the Arabs, when they declared war against the Bashaw (which formerly happened very frequently), announced their rising to their allies and neighbouring tribes, by signals of a fire at night, and a smoke by day. Three poor Arabs followed us up the mountain, pointing out to us the most remarkable surrounding objects: they gathered for us some small black berries from a low thorny tree, with yellow flowers, which they called Dummagh or “ brains,” and which had an astringent taste, somewhat resembling that of a ripe sloe, but the fruit was much smaller. They told us that the Arabs of Gharian always spoke with gratitude of the English Consul, who had once persuaded the Bashaw not to increase their tribute, as he intended. A t noon we arrived at a cluster of nests called El Guasem about six miles from Beni abbas: all the habitations of this place are of the same kind as those already described; we, however, found a small uninhabited shed above ground, situated at the foot of a little turret, where we deposited our goods, and determined on passing the night. From the inscriptions which we found in this building, it must be about 150 years old. The present Bashaw, his father, grand and great grandfather, had all slept m the smoky comer, of which we now took possession. The turret itself is constructed in a mode common to many others in these mountains. A t about half way down one of the subterranean passages, a hole is cut upwards in an awkward way through the rock into the first floor of the turret, which is even with the ground, and perfectly
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