‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST, 543 
straight towards my hiding-place, but unfortunately the 
wind was bad, and the cunning beast disappeared behind 
some rocks. 
A strange, weird melancholy haunts these desolate ravines 
of Palestine, especially in the evening, and one can imagine 
what suitable places they are for the wolves, jackals, and 
hyenas, that howl in concert among the old tombs. I left 
this damp chilly place before it grew quite dark, and was 
hastening past the village to the camp, when a shadow swept 
over me, and on firing at it a poor Stork fell dead to the 
ground. On reaching the camp we dined and then speedily 
retired to rest. 
Next morning we started pretty early and rode to Beth- 
lehem. There were crowds of people in the square, and we 
had great difficulty in getting our neighing and capering 
Arab horses through them to the church door. The Fran- 
ciscans accompanied our party into the Chapel of the Nativity, 
where the Chaplain said Mass. The public followed us even 
into the holy places underground, and among the people who 
were kneeling on the bare rock, lit up by the dull glow of the 
lamps, were some wonderfully beautiful women of Bethlehem, 
with true Madonna faces. 
When the service was over we returned to the square 
where our horses were standing, There a great surprise was 
awaiting us, for on the terrace of a house lay an enormous 
Hyena, with a splendid skin and a long mane, while by its 
side were two Jackals, smaller and different in colour to the 
one of the previous day, but nevertheless larger than the 
Canis aureus of Egypt, and unlike it in general appearance. 
It was the work of the poison, for we had yesterday prepared 
the head of the donkey with a strong dose of strychnine and 
had laid it out as the only bait. Naturally the ravenous 
animals of that barren district had greedily fallen upon the 
tasty morsel and had thus come to a speedy end. I sent the 
