1848.] ARABIAN VILLAGES. 477 



flank, or in rear, as videttes — and the glistening carbines and 

 flashing spears — all combined to produce a most attractive 

 sight, which excited the curiosity, and called forth the won- 

 dering gaze, of the few fellahin that were seen along the line 

 of the route. Occasionally, an Arab village would be passed, 

 and many a dark eye would then scan the equipments of the 

 cavalcade, and watch its movements as it wound its way 

 through the valleys and plains, through the rocky defiles, and 

 over the hilly slopes. 



Usually, the villages of the Arabian peasantry (fellahin), 

 as well as of the more aristocratic class to which 'Akll and 

 his followers belonged, who think it. beneath their dignity to 

 cultivate the soil, and spend most of their time upon horse- 

 back, and live mainly by plunder and extortion, are pictur- 

 esquely situated, near the summit of some lofty hill, in a 

 position not easily accessible to an enemy. Most of the 

 houses are but one story in height. They are of a cubical 

 shape, and built of uncemented stones, with flat mud roofs, 

 sometimes surrounded with balustrades, two or three feet 

 high, made of twigs wattled closely together. Inside they 

 are most commonly quite mean and filthy. The floors are 

 of mud, and the rafters begrimed with smoke and dirt. A 

 pot of coffee is almost always simmering amidst the embers 

 in the centre of the floor, but its delicious aroma is entirely 

 lost in the fumes of tobacco proceeding from the chibouque 

 or narghile, or the odor of the burning camel's dung, which 

 constitutes the only fuel used by the Arab, that impregnates 

 everything, and taints the atmosphere for miles around. 

 Each house has a dome-roofed oven near it, made of mud, in 

 which the family bake their bread. Hovels for sheltering the 

 favorite horse or horses of the Arab are seen once in a while, 

 but they are extremely rare, and the same roof not unfre- 

 quently covers both the steed and his master. 



(6.) After leaving Abelin, the Expedition crossed a ridge 

 bounding the plain sloping down to the Syrian coast, and 

 soon after entered the Wady en Nafakh, usually called the 



