THE PREFACE. 



times tzvehe, fome times fifteen Hours together. Nay, in 

 returning from jerufalem, [Jo vigilant were the Arabs 

 at that Time in di/ir effing the Tilgrims,) that notwith- 

 flanding we had the Sheck [or Saint) of Mount Carmel, 

 with tvjenty of his Servants toprotecl us, we refted only one 

 Hour in two and twenty : for fo long we made it in tra- 

 velling betwixt Sichcm and CMount Carmel. But in 

 the Kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, an ordinary Days 

 Journey, {exclufive of the Time taken up in making Obfer- 

 vations,) rarely exceeded eight or nine Hours, Ourccnflant 

 Traciice was, to rife at Break of Day, fet forward with 

 the Sun, and travel till the Middle of the Afternoon ; at which 

 Time we began to look out for the Encampments of the Arabs ; 

 who , to prevent fuch Parties as Ours from living upon 

 them, take Care to pitch in Places the lea ft confpicuoiis, 

 ^nd indeed fometimes , unlefs we difcovered the Smoke of their 

 Tents, obferved fome of their Flocks, or heard the barking of 

 their Dogs, it wa^ with Difficulty (if at all) that we were 

 able to find them. Here, as I obferved before, we were ac- 

 commodated with Lodgings and Provifions far that Night ; 

 and if in theCourfe of our Travelling the next Day, as the 

 Poet exprejjes it, 



We chance to find 



A newRepail, or an untafted Spring; 



We blefs our Stars, and think it Luxury. 

 In travellmg along the CoaH of Syria, and from Suez 

 to Mount Sinai, we run little or no Rifque of being either 

 robbed or infulted, provided we keep Company with theCz- 

 ravan, and do not flray from it. But a Neglect of this 

 Kind, through the great Eagernefs a Traveller may have 

 in looking after Plants and other Curiofities , will expofe 

 him, as it once did myfelf, to great Danger, In the Holy 

 Land, and upon the li Ihmus betwixt Egypt and the Red 

 Sea, our Conductors cannot be too numerous ; whole Clans, 

 from fifty to five Hundred, being fometimes looking out for a Boo- 

 ty, This was the Cafe of our Caravan, in travelling (A .P. 

 i722.)/ri>w Ramah /i? Jerufalem ; where four Bands 



b 2 (f 



Vll 



