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yellow slippers and plain sabre, showed that he was not very 

 well off. 



There was not much variety in our passage through this 

 narrow valley, though here and there very bad bits of the 

 road had to be traversed with caution, and we had plenty of 

 opportunities of admiring the skill with which the Arab 

 horses crossed the slippery grass and slanting rocks, in places 

 where a false step would have entailed a fall into the abyss 

 below. The bird-world was also but poorly represented in 

 these desolate mountains, for with the exception of one or two 

 solitary storks and a few vultures and eagles that flew over 

 our heads, there was nothing moving. 



After a long ride the valley ended, and the path brought 

 us to the brow of a high mountain, from which there opened 

 a splendid prospect. Immediately below us was the steep 

 slope of a deep basin-like valley quite surrounded by high 

 hills ; and right and left were innumerable summits and long 

 ridges, all of a uniform grey-green a true steppe landscape. 

 From the bottom of the valley a narrow gorge led in a south- 

 westerly direction, and through it one got a little glimpse of 

 the deep blue waters of the Dead Sea and of the bare white 

 cliffs of the high, finely-formed mountains on its further shore. 



The path wound down the abrupt declivity in steep zigzags, 

 and most of the pack-animals of the large caravan were just 

 making this difficult descent with an incessant tinkling of 

 their bells, while the foremost of them had already reached 

 the bottom of the valley, where our indefatigable servants had 

 begun to put up the tents on a stony meadow. 



All the gentlemen went on except the Grand Duke and 

 myself, and we waited on the ridge until the entire camp was 

 pitched, utilizing the time by laying out a dead kid behind a 

 hill-top, which would allow us to approach unseen. 



Hundreds of vultures and eagles were flying over from the 



