A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 363 



Chorinsky and I walked through the midst of these sons of 

 the desert, who welcomed us cordially, and offered us refresh- 

 ing drinks. One more quarter of an hour, and we came to 

 our gay Druses, Howard's servants, and the mules, with the 

 camp of the Turkish Cavalry close by, and another hundred 

 paces brought us to our tents, where dinner was at once 

 served. 



After sunset the oppressive heat increased to such an ex- 

 tent that even during the night we all lay bathed in perspira- 

 tion, and some of the gentlemen and servants were made ill 

 by the unwonted closeness of the air ; therefore in spite of the 

 very interesting experiences of the day and the highly 

 successful sport, we were all in somewhat low spirits a 

 feeling of depression, which was to be intensified during the 

 following days, for the climate of the Jordan valley has a 

 distressing effect upon all Europeans. 



On the 6th, after an early breakfast, we determined to go 

 out shooting in detachments. Several of the sportsmen went 

 in the direction which we had taken the previous day, while 

 the Grand Duke and I, accompanied by Salim and his men, 

 rode through the luxuriant garden-like country towards 

 Jericho. Not far from the village a rapid stream flows down 

 from the hills and crosses the plain to the Jordan. Again we 

 found steep earthy banks, large stones, running water, and a 

 vegetation even much denser than that of the watercourse 

 which we had driven yesterday. 



The Grand Duke remained on the left bank, while I went 

 over to the right. The Bedouins then forced their way into 

 the thickets and some brisk shooting began. In a few 

 minutes we had killed several partridges ; but as the beaters 

 found some fresh tracks of wild boars, we quickly left off 

 shooting at the small game. Soon afterwards the dogs gave 

 tongue, and a large boar broke away through the bushes, but 

 as it was only visible for an instant no shot could be fired. 



