492 WANDERING TRIBES. [1848. 



them. White and pink oleanders display their clustering 

 flowers in every bight, and scent the air with their grateful 

 perfume. The beautiful acacia, and the stately plane-tree, 

 are occasionally seen. The tamarisk (turf a), and the willow 

 (sifsaf) abound through the whole length of the valley The 

 swamp-like shores — often real jungles in appearance — here 

 and there present a lovely myrtle bower, and far inland may 

 be descried miniature forests of dwarf oaks and cedars. 

 Kelakh and ghurrah bushes are scattered along the terraces, 

 with the laurestinus, the arbutus, and the agnus castus. 

 The carob tree, the mala insana, and the pistachio, or tere- 

 binth (the butrn of the Arab) are seen, though but rarely ; 

 and every turn of the river discloses the purple blossoms of 

 the osher tree, and the thorny branches of the nubk, or lotus.* 



Few of the animals driven out from the thickets, in the 

 olden time, by the swelling of the river.t are now found in 

 the country. The principal ones at present known to exist, 

 are the gazelle, the fallow deer, the jackal, the panther, and 

 the kelb-el-maya, or water-dog. "Wild fowl are tolerably 

 plentiful. The beautiful bulbul — its crimson wings and 

 scarlet head contrasting finely with the rich nutty brown of 

 its breast — trills its soft notes in the fragrant groves at even- 

 tide ; and the sweet banks and woods echo till early dawn the 

 melodious songs of a thousand nightingales. X 



Wandering tribes of Bedawin occupy both shores of the 

 Jordan and the Dead Sea. At Kerak, near the eastern bank 

 of the latter, there are a number of Christian Arabs who 

 have a chapel of their own ; but, generally speaking, all the 

 Arabs are Mussulmans. Some of them are bold, fierce and 

 warlike, and others timid, meagre, forlorn, and wretched 

 looking objects. All are treacherous and thievish. Ten 



* This tree is al*o called by the Arabs (he sidr. It is the spina christi, from 

 whose branches as it is supposed, the crown of thorns worn by the Redeemer, 

 was plaited, 

 t Jeremiah, xlix 19. 



" And Jordan, those sweet banks of thine, 

 *nd woods, so full of nightingales." 



Lalla RookL. 



