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426

DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM.

children, amidst the ruins of its prostrate grandeur ! Indeed it is almost universally admitted by travellers that so engrossing, so overpowering is the effect produced by the two or three first days' residence in Jerusalem, that they were for some time unable to view with composure even those places, and those scenes that they knew to be fictitious.

March 25th, we left Jerusalem. A circumstance occurred, which, as it is descriptive of the character of an Arab recruit, I may here record. Having started a few minutes before my party, on passing through the Joppa gate, in which there was a guard of young Egyptian soldiers, one of them threw at me, by way of sport, a small pebble, which hit me in the face. Although it did not hurt me very much, yet, as the act was accompanied by the reproachful epithet of Giaour, I let my wounded feelings get the better of my discretion, and in the heat of the moment I turned my horse round and gave the fellow two or three smart blows of my coorbag. He quickly retired into a small recess beside the gate, and on my urging my horse to follow him, the sentry presented his firelock and stood boldly in the way; and the blow intended for the flying culprit, fell upon his shoulders. He instantly let the musquet fall to the ground, skipt nimbly out of the way, and bolted after his companion. My friends now coming up in strong muster and threatening atti

A RENCONTRE WITH THE GUARD.

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tude, the affray terminated by the whole guard betaking themselves to the innermost apartment of the gateway. No doubt the most proper and judicious, but less humane measure, would have been to have reported the transaction to the governor, instead of taking the law into our own hands. What then would have been the consequences? We should have had the horrid satisfaction of having this unfortunate man's ears cut off, or his being, perhaps, bastinadoed on the soles of his feet until the very nails dropt off. Under other circumstances the effect of this rencontre might have been attended with more serious results.

We performed the journey back to Ramla in six hours, unmarked by any adventure except that of encountering a sirocco wind, if such be an adventure. While While upon the highest elevation of the hill country, we had perceived a certain sultriness of the air. The wind was then blowing from the S.E. and on looking behind us we could discover a peculiar haziness of the atmosphere, which momentarily approached towards us, while in front all was yet bright and distinct. Presently the sultriness increased, although the sun was not particularly hot, and there was rather more breeze than usual. In fact this wind, which was no other than the sirocco, appeared to move as a stratum of the atmosphere, and for some time, even after it reached us, it did not descend and fill the valleys. The wind had been blowing from the

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S.E. for the two days previous, and it had, in all probability, been for some time traversing the hot and arid Idumean desert, where it met no particle of vegetable life to modify its force; and where the sand, in all likelihood, had never cooled during the night. This wind also takes up, and holds suspended in it the minutest particles of sand, which, in the space of a couple of hours, we could perceive upon our clothes.

We now began to feel its full force, and its effect was most unpleasant though difficult to describe. The air itself becomes a hot thick palpable haze, of a bluish-grey colour, rendering the outlines of objects indistinct, though it allows you to see much farther than in an ordinary humid mist. I know no better resemblance of the character the air assumes under these circumstances than that peculiar appearance and quivering motion which the heat and smoke of a fire has when lighted in the open air of a clear hot sunny day. Although

it

may be blowing hard at the time, yet the breeze is unrefreshing, and comes hot and sultry on the brow, producing at first a feeling of oppression and constriction of the chest. This increases in time to a sickening sense of suffocation. There is a general dryness of the skin, the pores cease to throw out their secretions, the mouth becomes dry and parched attended with urgent thirst, the vessels of the eyes red and tinged, headache and lassitude ensue. Finally, great prostration of

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strength is felt, which remains long after the exciting cause has ceased, and the other symptoms have been removed; and above all there is the most debilitating effect produced upon the mind by this sirocco a feeling of good-for-nothingness.

This wind is one of the most trying things that awaits the invalid in his journeys through the Levant; and indeed it is trying to all, even the most healthy. The residents in those places subject to it, shut themselves up in their houses during its continuance, and close all their doors and windows. Its action is generally modified towards evening, though it may continue for two or three days together. For this reason people who live in eastern countries seldom travel, if they can avoid it, during the heat of the day. The depressing effect of the sirocco may be that alluded to by the Psalmist as "the arrow that flieth by day.' "* Homer also appears to refer to this wind when he speaks of the contagion that appeared among the Greeks, and ascribed it to the "arrows of the god of light." I may remark upon the subject of temperature generally, that about two o'clock was the hour at which the mercury stood highest, and frequently it was higher at 10 A. M. than at noon.

Owing to the great difference of elevation in various parts of Palestine, the greatest dissimilarity prevails with regard to its temperature and

* Psalm, xci. 5.

430 PROPER SEASON FOR VISITING PALESTINE.

climate. We were so fortunate as to visit it at the most favourable and healthy period of the year-the snows and cold of winter had just disappeared, and the rainy season had not yet commenced-a month or three weeks earlier we should have been travelling in some places with snow up to our horses' knees, while, at the same time we would have been enduring a scorching sun overhead.* The rainy season in this country is very variable, both as to the quantity which falls, and the period at which it occurs; it is, however, on the average, generally from the middle of March to the middle of April. The best time, therefore, for those who seek health as well as amusement in visiting Palestine is from the end of February to the middle of the ensuing month. It was for this reason we left Egypt so early in the year, and spent the intervening time on the coast of Asia Minor.

We arrived at Ramla, and with considerable pleasure again entered the comfortable convent, and being greatly fatigued by our day's journey and the sirocco, we soon retired to rest; but the whole of the early part of the evening we were

* For a table of the daily temperature on board our vessel during the mediterranean cruise, see Appendix D.

As far as my observation went during our stay in Egypt, I cannot say much for its climate as suited to invalids; indeed it requires a tolerably good constitution to withstand the effects of the nightly cold which does not go off till the sun is well up. This variability of daily temperature is highly detrimental to health.

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