MB. H. M. BEDHEAD OK TUE l^OKA OF SINAI. 22^ 



While the tents were being erected the camels were, as usual, 



turned out loose, here indeed to graze on the abundant herbage, 

 and not, as pre\dously, merely to browze on stray shrubs and herbs, 

 which latter^ however, they decidedly prefer. I, when botanizing 



at a little distance, saw them all right ; but as I was afterwards' 



busy in my tent, putting the plants I had found into my press, I 



was informed that two of our baggage-camela had been stolen. 



I only mention the incident in this place, to be able to add the 



fact, that when the Bedouin who had stolen them was found, and 



heard that they were conveying the baggage oi English gentlemen 



to Hebron, he at once restored them on that very ground — our 



nationality, — another proof of what I observed throughout the" 



tour, the good feeling of the Arabs towards the English. 



The next day, as we approached Bir es-Seba (Beersheba), the 



fertility of the country rapidly increased, and with it the variety 



of plants in flower. 



Malvaceous plants, hitherto I may say almost entirely absent, 

 now became conspicuous. Malva sylvestris of great luxuriance, 

 Malva crispa^ and Malope trijlda with the brilliaAt yellow of 

 ChrysantJiemum coronarium, a very dwarf purple Scorzonera, and 

 a bright blue Anchusa, gave a garden-like aspect to the ground. 

 We twice saw here a greyish-brown spotted snake, about three feet 

 long (^Cerastes Hasselquistii), the Horned Yiper, or Asp of Cleo- 

 patra, a very venomous species according to the Arabs, who cut 

 them in two with their swords, — and also a more pleasing reptile, 

 a pretty young land-tortoise (Testudo gr<rcd), which I brought 

 alive to England. 



One of the loveliest plants growing in the grassy country was 

 a brilliant blue Amaryllid (the Ixiolirion monianum), so fragile 

 that it was almost impossible to preserve it for drying. Lotus 

 arabicus, with very downy leaves and claret-coloured flowers, 

 OnohrycTiis trilopliocarpa, having prickly pods, and a large thistle- 

 like Bryngium^ with brown and yellow flowers, the beautiful 



E,a7nethystinuyn, with its globes of blue flowers, were amongst 

 the more noticeable plants. Of Grasses, I remarked Phdaris 



minor J Festuca divaricafa, ^gilojys ovala, Schism us ^narginaluSy 



Polypogon monspeliensisy a Koeleria^ and a large-growing Stipa, 



The foUowinir eveninc: we rested in the midst of a vast undula- 

 ting plain of rich, thick grass, brilliant witli scarlet lianuncuU 

 and Adonis cestivalisy and where we first saw a lovely little 

 creeper, Paronychia argentea^ whose silvery bractea? often after- 

 wards lent a charm to the most barren rocks in the vv-ildemess of 



