'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 351 



Hawks, and Pigeons flew to their holes, and only now and 

 then the short song of a bird was to be heard. 



It now began to get dark, and the clear sounding bells 

 were calling to prayer. Hardly had the last sound died away 

 when a piece of bread fell close beside me, and a jackal 

 appeared within twenty paces. 



I was glad to get out of this terrible place, which lies at 

 the level of the Mediterranean, for in it a leaden atmosphere, 

 such as I had never before felt, seemed to check my breathing 

 and to weigh down my whole frame a feeling of lassitude 

 which we experienced in a still greater degree in the lower 

 levels that we frequented during the next few days. 



Having taken leave of the pious monks, we clambered 

 through the domains of the monastery right up to the tower, 

 and then hurried off to the camp, which we did not reach until 

 it was quite dark. We then dined, sketched out our plans 

 for the morrow, and by ten o'clock all was again quiet in the 

 desolate valley. 



At sunrise the party assembled to breakfast, and we were 

 sitting at table when an Egyptian Vulture had the impudence 

 to fly into the camp and settle among the tents to devour 

 some of the kitchen scraps. The Grand Duke, however, 

 quickly fetched his gun and shot the audacious bird. 



During the early hours of the morning we separated our 

 forces, the Grand Duke and I ascending one of the highest 

 of the hills that enclosed the valley, in order to expose our 

 kid on its summit, while the other gentlemen went off to 

 shoot pigeons in the Mar-Saba ravine. 



We had a long fatiguing climb, for the slopes were smooth 

 and slippery, and we had to clamber over flat rocks and 

 reddish flinty steeps ; the heat, too, was already rather op- 

 pressive. On reaching the summit we found a capital hiding- 

 place, which had been yesterday made by my jager. There 

 we watched for two hours, grievously tormented by insects, 



