'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 367 



model of a true Arab. At first we rode along the edge of 

 the vegetation at the base of the mountains, through thick 

 bushes and low trees, which were literally covered with Storks 

 just awakening from their slumbers ; but after a while the 

 shrubs and the garden-like country round the springs of 

 Ain-es-Sultan came to an end, and we again entered the true 

 steppe. It was good riding-ground on the whole, and, ex- 

 cepting where the stony tracts and the dry watercourses near 

 the mountains had to be crossed, one could always gallop. 

 After a ride of two hours there opened on our left a tolerably 

 wide mountain vaUey, far away up which lay the spring of 

 El-Audje, while along it ran a fertilizing stream, which after- 

 wards traversed the plain beyond down to the Jordan. 



Through the low trees and scrub of this narrow strip of 

 vegetation we had to pass, and on the other side found Salim 

 and his men awaiting us, keen for sport and ready to show 

 us ground well stocked with game. 



The large caravan with most of the gentlemen turned to 

 the left up the valley to the springs of El-Audje, but the 

 Grand Duke, Hoyos, and I followed the Bedouins. Here we 

 found great numbers of birds of prey sitting on the trees, and 

 I killed a Short-toed and a Pygmy Eagle within a few minutes, 

 while the patches of wild oats and high grass among the 

 bushes were swarming with Quails ; they rose at every step, 

 and if we had taken with us enough ammunition we might 

 have made a splendid bag of these birds. Red-legs, however, 

 were scarce, and there were no Key's Partridges at all. 



After shooting a long way eastwards, well into the plains 

 of the Jordan, we again returned to the edge of the steppe, 

 and having rested in the shade of a tree for half an hour we 

 mounted our horses and rode over the yellowish grassy plains, 

 the Bedouins running behind us on foot. 



In about half an hour we came to the edge of a deep rift 

 in the elevated plateau, where far below us a stream was 



