<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 349 



mountains of the Dead Sea one after another, all taking their 

 daily route to Jerusalem with perfect punctuality. They did 

 not deign to look at our kid, and only a couple of Ravens 

 and an Egyptian Vulture cruised round it, but without 

 settling. 



The heat was terrific, there was not a breath of air or the 

 smallest cloud in the dark blue sky, so when an hour had 

 gone by we left this unfavourable spot and walked down to 

 the bottom of the valley, taking with us the kid, which we 

 intended to expose next day. The lower we went the heavier 

 and the more oppressive became the air, and as a first greeting 

 from the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley there came up from 

 the side valley a leaden atmosphere, which we learned to dread 

 during the subsequent days. 



We soon got to the tents, which were now all pitched. It 

 was quite a little town, and this otherwise desolate region was 

 now a scene of the greatest activity. 



The two Arab sportsmen, who had followed the caravan 

 from Latrun, shooting by the way, now appeared richly laden 

 with spoils for the larder. Besides a number of Red-legs 

 they had also brought some of the little Hey's Partridges, for 

 we had now, for the first time, got within the range of these 

 beautiful birds. The Arabs, who, with their defective weapons, 

 can only shoot sitting, stalk the partridges by concealing 

 themselves behind a brown-and-yellow screen extended by 

 sugar-canes, and furnished with two holes for the eyes and 

 one for the gun. The stupid birds see no one, and keep 

 staring at the moving screen until the fatal shot is fired 

 from it. 



We lunched as soon as we arrived, while our Oriental 

 servants prepared the camping-ground for the night with 

 much dexterity. Every stone had to be lifted and all the 

 grass well searched, for the place was infested with large 



