'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 377 



especially as Herr Kath said that while riding down one of 

 the ravines which led to the Jordan he had seen a small stag 

 with short horns. 



The second part of the wood was composed of high leafy- 

 trees of an almost tropical character and a nearly impene- 

 trable undergrowth ; but there were such numbers of tracks 

 that I could not resist trying a beat just for luck, so I posted 

 the gentlemen in the opening by the best-trodden runs, and 

 got the Turkish guards and some of the servants to go 

 through the wood under the direction of my jager. In such 

 undergrowth an orderly line of beaters was out of the question, 

 and we very soon saw that all attempts to drive game out of 

 these thickets would be useless. The only birds which I saw 

 in this wood were a pair of Stone-Curlews and several 

 Kites. 



We now went back to our horses, had them saddled, and 

 rode back to the edge of the' plateau by the same way. We 

 had already noticed from below some peculiar dark clouds 

 whirling up into the sky, but could not make out what they 

 were ; but on getting to the top of the plateau we saw a very 

 remarkable spectacle, for the whole steppe from the Jordan to 

 the foot of the eastern border hills was enveloped in a cloud of 

 smoke with bright flames shooting out here and there from the 

 black vapours. The country through which we had ridden in 

 the morning was now a sea of smoke and fire, for the grass of 

 the steppe burnt with incredible rapidity, and every minute 

 we could see how the fire was advancing by the columns of 

 smoke that were following us up. 



Jussuf, a Turkish cavalry officer born in Turkestan, a 

 vigorous grey-bearded old man, with a leather-thonged whip 

 slung round his wrist as a sign of authority, rode in front to 

 show the best way. It was a splendid gallop straight across 

 country over the steppe, pursued by the great fire a scene 

 not to be witnessed in Europe, but only in the vast tracts of 



