upon rubbing two sticks together, in half a minute they both took fire, and flamed; a mark how near the country was reduced to a general conflagration!

At half past three, we pitched our tent near some draw-wells, which, upon tasting, we found bitterer than soot. We had indeed, other water carried by the camels in skins. This well-water had only one needful quality, it was cold, and therefore very comfortable for refreshing us outwardly. This unpleasant station is called Legeta; here we were obliged to pass the night, and all next day, to wait the arrival of the caravans of Cus, Esnê and part of those of Kenne, and Ebanout.

While at the wells of Legeté, my Arab, Abdel Gin, came to me with his money, which amounted to nineteen sequins and a half. "What! said I, Mahomet, are you never false among your countrymen neither by sea nor land ?" "Oh, no, replied Mahomet; the difference, when we were on board the boat, was, we had three thieves only; but, when assembled here, we shall have above three thousand.--But I have an advice to give you." -"And my ears," said I, " Mahomet, are always open to advice, especially in strange countries."-" These people," continued Mahomet," are all afraid of the Atouni Arabs; and when attacked, they will run away, and leave you in the hands of these Atouni, who will carry off your baggage. But do not kill any of the Atouni if they come, for that will be a bad affair, but go aside and let me manage. I will answer with my life, though all the caravan should be stripped stark-naked, and you, loaded with gold, not one article belonging to you shall be touched." I questioned him very particular about this intimation, as it was an affair of much consequence, and I was so well satisfied, that I resolved to conform strictly to it.

In the evening came 20 Turks from Caramania, which is that part of Asia Minor immediately on the side of the Mediterranean opposite to the coast of Egypt; all of them neatly and cleanly dressed like Turks, all on camels, armed with swords, a pair of pistols at their girdle, and a short neat gua; their arms were in very good order, with their flints and ammunition stowed in cartridge boxes, in a very soldier-like manner. A few of these spoke Arabic, and my Greek servant, Michael, interpreted for the rest. Having been informed, that the large tent belonged to the Englishman, they came into it without ceremony. They told me that they were a number of neighbours and companions, who had set out together to go to Mecca, to the Hadje; and not knowing the language or customs of the people, they had been but indifferently used since they landed at Alexandria, that one of the Owam, or swimming thieves had been on board of them in the night, and had carried off a small portmanteau with about 200

sequins in gold; that though a complaint had been made to the Bey of Girge, yet no satisfaction had been obtained; and that now they had heard an Englishman was here, whom they reckoned their countryman, they had come to propose, that we should make a common cause to defend each other against all enemies. What they meant by countryman was this:-There is in Asia Minor, somewhere between Anatolia and Caramania, a district which they call Caz Dagli, corruptly Caz Dangli, and this the Turks believe was the country from which the English first drew their origin; and on this account they never fail to claim kindred with the English wherever they meet, especially if they stand in need of their assistance.

I told them the arrangement I had taken with the Arab. At first, they thought it was too much confidence to place in him, but I convinced them, that it was greatly diminishing our risk, and, let the worst come to the worst, I was well satisfied that, armed as we were, on foot, we were more than sufficient to beat the Atouni, after they had defeated the clownish caravan of Egypt, from whose courage we certainly had nothing to expect. I cannot conceal the secret pleasure I had in finding the character of my country so firmly established among nations so distant, enemies to our religion, and strangers to our government. Turks from Mount Taurus, and Arabs from the desert of Libya, though themselves unsafe among their own countrymen, but trusted their lives and their little fortunes implicitly to the direction and word of an Englishman whom they had never before seen!

These Turks seemed to be above the middling rank of people; each of them had his little cloak bag very neatly packed up; and they gave me to understand that there was money in it. These they placed in my servants tent, and chained them all together, round the middle pillar of it; for it was easy to see the Arabs of the caravan had those packages in view, from the first moment of the Turk's arrival. On the 19th we departed from Legeta. Our journey, all that day, was through a plain, never less than a mile broad, and never broader than three; the hills, on our right and left, were higher than the former, and of a brownish calcined colour, like the stones on the sides of Mount Vesuvius, but without any herb or tree upon them.

At ten we passed a mountain of green and red marble, and at twelve we entered a plain called Hamra, where we first observed the sand red, with a purple cast, of the colour of porphyry. I dismounted here, to examine of what the rocks were composed; and found, with the greatest pleasure, that here began the quarries of porphyry, without the mixture of any other stone; but it was imperfect, brittle, and soft. I had not been engaged in this pursuit an hour, before we were alarmed with a report that the

Atouni had attacked the rear of the caravan; we were at the head of it. The Turks and my servants were all drawn together, at the foot of the mountain, and posted as advantageously as possible. But it soon appeared that they were some thieves only, who had attempted to steal some loads of corn from camels that were weak, or fallen lame, perhaps in intelligence with those of our own caravans. All the rest of the afternoon, we saw mountains, of a perfectly purple colour, all of them porphyry. At four, we pitched our tent at Main el Mafárek. The colour of the valley El Hamra continued to this station; and it was very singular to observe, that the ants, or pismires, the only living creature I had yet observed, were all of a beautiful red colour like the sand.

The 20th, we left Main el Maferak, and, at ten, came to the mouth of the defiles. At eleven we began to descend, having had a very imperceptible ascent from Kennê all the way. We were now indemnified for the sameness of our natural productions yesterday; for, on each side of the plain, we found different sorts of marble, twelve kinds of which I selected, and took with me. At noon, we came to a plain planted with acaciatrees, at equal distances; single trees, spreading broader than usual, as if on purpose to proportion the refreshment they gave to the number of travellers who stood in need of it. This is a station of the Atouni Arabs after rain. From our leaving Legeta, we had no water that, nor the following day. On the right hand side of this plain we found porphyry and granite, of very beautiful kinds. All the way, on both sides of the valley, this day, the mountains were of porphyry, and a very few of stone. The 21st, we passed several defiles, perpetually alarmed by a report that the Arabs were approaching; none of whom we ever We then proceeded through a long plain that turns to the east, then north-east, and north, so as to make a portion of a circle. At the end of this plain we came to a mountain, the greatest part of which was marble, verde antico, as it is called in Rome, but by far the most beautiful of the kind I had ever seen. Having passed this, we had mountains on both sides of us, but particularly on our right. The only ones that I myself examined were a kind of granite, with reddish veins throughout, with triangular and square black spots. These mountains continued to Mesage el Terfowey, where we encamped at noon; we were obliged to bring our water from about five miles to the south-east.— This water lies in cavities and grottos in the rock, of which there are twelve in number. Great rains fall here in February. The clouds, breaking on the tops of these mountains, in their way to Abyssinia, fill these cisterns with large supplies, which the impending rocks secure from evaporation.

saw.

was not our case.

It was the first fresh water we tasted since we left the Nile; and the only water of any kind since we left Legeta. But such had been the foresight of our caravan, that very few resorted thither, having all laid in abundant store from the Nile; and some of then a quantity sufficient to serve them till their return. This We had water it is true, from the Nile; but we never thought we could have too much, as long as there was room in our water-skins to hold more: I therefore went early with my camel-drivers, to the wells, where I shot two Antelopes. We continued at the well to assist our companions who came in want of water, a duty with which necessity binds us all to comply.

We returned near midnight, and found our tents all lighted, which at that time of night, was unusual. I thought, however, it was on account of my absence, and to guide me the surer home. We were however surprised, when, coming within a moderate distance of our tent, we heard the word called for; I answered immediately, Charlotte; and, upon our arrival, we perceived the Turks were parading round the tents in arms, and soon after our Howadat Arab come to us, and with him a messenger from Sidi Hassan, the commander of the caravan, desiring me to come instantly to his tent, while my servants advised me first to hear what they had to say to me in mine. I soon, therefore, perceived that all was not well, and I returned my compliments to Hassan, adding, that, if he had any thing to say to me so late, he would do well to come, or send, as it was past my hour of visiting in the desert, especially as I had not eat, and was tired with having the charge of the water. I gave orders to my servants to put out all the extraordinary lights, as that seemed to be a mark of fear: but forbade any one to sleep, excepting those who had charge of our beasts, and had been fetching the wa

ter.

I found that while our people had been asleep, two persons had got into the tent and attempted to steal one of the portmanteaus; but, as they were chained together, and the tent-pole in the middle, the noise had awakened my servants, who had seized one of the men; and that the Turks had intended instantly to have dispatched him with their knives, and with great difficulty had been prevented by my servants, according to my constant orders, for I wished to avoid all extremities, upon such occasions, when possible. They had indeed leave to deal with their sticks as freely as their prudence suggested to them; they had gone, in this case, fully beyond the ordinary limits of discretion, especially, Abdel Gin, who was the first to seize the robber. In short, they had dealt so liberally with their sticks, that the thief was only known to be living by his groans, and

and

they had thrown him at a small distance, for any person to own him that pleased. It appeared that he was a servant of Sidi Hassan.

There were with me ten servants, all completely armed, twenty-five Turks, who seemed worthy to be depended upon, and four Janissaries, who had joined us from Cairo, so that there were of us forty men perfectly armed, besides attendants on the cattle. As we had people with us who knew the wells, and also a friend who was acquainted with the Atouni, nothing, even in a desert, could reasonably alarm us. With great difficulty we pulled down an old acacia-tree, and procured some old dried camel's dung, with which we roasted our two antelopes; very ill-roasted they were; and execrable meat, though they had been ever so well dressed, and had the best sauce of Christendom. However, we were in the desert, and every thing was acceptable. We had some spirits, which finished our repast that night : it was exceedingly cold, and we sat thick about the fire.

Five men with firelocks, and a number of Arabs with lances, having come towards us, and being challenged by the sentinel for not giving the word, were then desired to stand, or they would be fired upon. They all cried out, Salam Alicum! i. e. Peace be between us, and I intimated that any three of them might come forward, but desired them to keep away the Arabs. Three of them accordingly came and then two more. They delivered a message from Sidi Hassan, (the captain of the caravan,) that my people had killed a man; they desired that the murderer might be delivered to them, and that I should come to his tent, and see justice done. "I told them that none of my people, however provoked, would put a man to death in my absence, unless in defence of their own lives; that, if I had been inere, I should certainly have ordered them to fire upon a thief catched in the act of stealing within my tent; but since he was dead, I was satisfied as to him, only expected that Sidi Hassan would give me up his companion who had fled; that as it was near morning, I should meet him when the caravan decamped, and hear what he had to say in his defence. In the mean time I forbade any person to come near my tent, or quarters, on any pretence whatever, till daylight." Away they went murmuring, and we heard no more of them. We since found, that we had stood in the way of a common practice, of stripping these poor strangers, the Turks, who come every year this road to Mecca.

Opposite to where we were encamped is Terfowey, a large mountain, partly green marble, partly granite, with a red blush upon a grey ground, with square oblong spots. About forty yards within the narrow valley, which separates this mountain from its neighbour, we saw a part of the fust or shaft of a monstrous obe