138 



«Hl)c jTarmci-'s iflontljli) biettor. 



two successive pools, rather than a stream, with 

 BOine minnows in them; the water not yet stag- 

 nant flowing from the upper to the lower pool. 

 There were huge boulders of sandstone in the 

 bed of the ravine; a dead palm tree near the 

 largest pool ; a living one in the cleft of the rock 

 at the head of the gorge ; and high up to the 

 summits of the beetling cliffs the sandstone lay 

 in a horizontal strata with perpendicular cleav- 

 age, and limestone above, its light brown color 

 richly contrasting with the deep red below. 



The sandstone below limestone here, and 

 limestone, without sandstone on the opposite 

 shore would seem to indicate a geological fault. 

 Washed and bathed in one of the pools, but 

 the relief was only momentary. In one instant 

 after leaving the water, the moisture on the sur- 

 face evaporated, and left the skin dry, parched 

 and stiff. Except the minnows in the pool, 

 there was not a living thing stirring; but the hot 

 wind swept mourning through the branches of 

 the withered palm tree, and every bird and in- 

 sect, if any there were, had sought shelter under 

 the rocks. 



Coming out of the ravine the sight was a sin- 

 gular one. The wind had increased to a tempest ; 

 the two extremities and the western shore of the 

 sea were curtained by a mist, on this side of a 

 purple hue, on the other a yellow tinge ; and the 

 red and ray less so ti in the bronzed clouds bad 

 the appearance it presents when looked upon 

 through smoked glass. Thus may the heavens 

 have appeared just before the Almighty in his 

 wrath rained down fire upon the cities of the 

 plain. Behind were the rugged crags of the 

 mountains of Moab, (the land of iiic'stjenvelop- 

 ed in a cloud of dust swept by the simoon from 

 the great desert of Arabia. 



There was a smoke on the peninsula, a little 

 to the north of us. We knew not whether they 

 were friends or foes, and therefore that little 

 smoke was not to be disregarded. We had 

 brought one of the Ta'amirah with us for the 

 express purpose of communicating with the na- 

 tives, but he was so fearful of their hostility that 

 1 could not prevail on him to bear a message to 

 them. With his back to the wind and his eyes 

 fixed on the streaming smoke, he had squatted 

 himself down a short distance from us. lie 

 thought we would he attacked in the night. 1 

 felt assured that we would not if we were vigi- 

 lant. These people never attack each other, but 

 at advantage; and fifteen well-armed Franks 

 can, in that region, bid defiance to anything but 

 surprise. 



The sky grew more angry as the day de- 

 clined — 



" The settling orb in crimson seems to burn, 

 Denouncing greater wops at his return, 



And adds new horrors to the present doom, 

 By certain tears of evil yet to come.'' 



The heat rather increased than lessened after 

 the sun went down. At eight P. M. the ther- 

 mometer was 100 deg., five feet from the ground, 

 at one foot from the latter it was 104 deg. We 

 threw ourselves upon the parched cracked earth, 

 among dry stalks, and canes, which would have 

 before seemed insupportable from the beat. 

 Some endeavored to make a screen of one of 

 the boat's awning, but the fierce wind swept it 

 over in an instant. It was more like the blast of 

 a furnace than living air. At our feet was the sea, 

 and on our right, through the thicket, we could 

 distinguish the gleaming of the fires and hear 

 the shouts from the Arab encampment. 



In the early part of the night there was 

 scarcely a moment that some one was not at the 

 water-breakers; but the parching thirst could 

 not be allayed, for, although there was no per- 

 ceptible perspiration, the fluid was carried off as 

 fast as it was received into the system. At nine 

 o'clock the breakers were exhausted, and our 

 last waking thought was water. In our disturbed 

 and feverish slumbers, we fancied the cool beve- 

 rage purling down out" parched and burning 

 throats. The mosquitos, as if their stings were 

 envenomed by the heal, tormented us almost to 

 madness, and we spent a miserable night, 

 throughout which we were compelled to lie in- 

 cumbered with our arms, while, by turns, we 

 kept vigilant watch. 



We had spent the day in the glare of a Syrian 

 sun, by the salt mountain of Usdotn in the hot 

 blast of the sirrocco, and were now bivouacked 



under the calcined cliffs of Moab. When the 

 water was exhausted, all too weary to go for 

 more, even if there was no danger of a surprise, 

 we threw ourselves upon the ground, — eyes 

 smarting, skin burning, lips and tongue and 

 throat parched and dry, and wrapped the first 

 garment we could find, around our heads to 

 keep oft' the stifling blast; and in our brief and 

 broken slumbers, drank from ideal fountains. 

 Those who have never felt thirst, never suffered 

 ill a simoon in the wilderness, or been far off at 

 sea, with 



" Water, water everywhere 



Nor any drop to drink," 



can form no idea of our sensations. They are 

 best illustrated by the exclamation of the victim 

 in Dante's Inferno: 



" The little rills which down the grassy side, 



Or Cassentino flow to Arno's stream, 



Filling their banks with verdure as they glide, 



Are ever on my view, — no idle dream, — 



For mwre than vision parches, make me weak, 



Than that disease winch wastes my pallid cheek." 



Our thoughts could not revert to home save in 

 connection with the precious element ; and many 

 were the imaginary speeches we made to vision- 

 ary common councils against ideal water carts 

 which went about unsubstantial city streets, 

 spouting the glorious liquid in the very wasteful- 

 ness of abundance, every drop of which seemed 

 priceless pearls as we lay on the shore of the 

 Dead Sea in the feverish sleep of thirst. 



The poor affrighted Arab slept not a wink ; for 

 repeatedly when I went out as was my custom 

 to see that all was quiet and the sentries on the 

 alert, he was ever in the same place looking in 

 the same direction. At midnight the thermom- 

 eter stood at 98 deg., shortly after which the 

 wind shifted and blew lightly from the north. 

 At four A. M. the thermometer comparatively 

 cool. 



Lime in Building. 



The following is an extract from the address 

 of P. A. Browne, Esq., before the Society for the 

 Development of the Mineral Resources of the 

 United States, in Philadelphia : 



"1st. From the time that the lime is drawn 

 from the kiln until it is slaked, it should be kept 

 in a dry and tolerably close place. The reason 

 is this, the burnt lime being an-bydroiis has a 

 constant tendency to abstract moisture, and per- 

 haps carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, and 

 by so doing, to undergo a premature chemical 

 change. 



"2d. A practice has been introduced into this 

 city and elsewhere, particularly when about to 

 make plaster, of suddenly drowning the lime in 

 an excess of water, instead of gradually supply- 

 ing that liquid as the operations of slaking slow- 

 ly goes on, and of limiting the quantity of water 

 to that which is sufficient to form a paste of 

 consistency of clay prepared for the potter's 

 wheel. 



"Some of the best writers upon«cements con- 

 demn this practice of drowning the lime and 

 suddenly checking its temperature, in unmeas- 

 ured terms ; and it is confidently believed that 

 if our architects, builders, brick-layers, and plas- 

 terers, would exercise a little of that good sense 

 for which our operatives are so justly renowned, 

 that it would soon be abolished. 



"3d. Of the mixture of the slaked lime with 

 an inert substance to form mortar. 



" The inert body ought not to be added to the 

 lime until the lime is entirely slaked, which may 

 be known by it becoming cool. So far as my 

 observation goes, the sand or gravel are often 

 added while the lime is yet hot. 



"1st. The inert body should be of a good 

 quality. 



"2d. It should be supplied in a due propor- 

 tion. 

 " Of the abuse of the first, we have a striking 



example in the use of sand from the sea shore, 

 the moisture of which holds in solution the 

 chloride of sodium. 



"After the great fire in New York, it was the 

 subject of general remark that, many of the 

 walls which fell or were pulled down, were as 

 free from mortar as the day they were drawn 

 from the kiln ; and persons of knowledge and 

 experience attributed it to the mortar having 

 been made with salt sand. This doubtless, was 

 one cause, but there may have been others, viz: 

 that the bricks were loo dry when laid, and the 

 lime of a bad quality. 



" The rule laid down for the proportions of 

 lime and the inert body, in order that mortar 

 may be of the best quality, appears to be a very 

 sensible one. It is this, that so much and no 

 more of the lime must be used as is sufficient to 

 fill the interstices between the grains of the in- 

 ert body. If too much lime is used the particles 

 are not allowed to come into that complete con- 

 tact, which, as is believed, is best suited lor their 

 crystal izatiori. If there is not lime enough to 

 fill the interstices entirely, the mortar will be 

 porous and weak. I am informed that the prac- 

 tice in this vicinity, is to mix one and one-fourth 

 bushels of lime with one-fourth of a team load 

 of gravel, (a team load being thirty-nine square 

 feet) and two bushels of lime to a one-horse 

 load of sand, i. e. to twenty-one square feet. 

 What is the rationale of this practice ? Those 

 who follow it do not seem to be well informed ; 

 but it would be easy and exceedingly useful to 

 experiment upon the subject. In the mean time, 

 by filling a vessel of a given capacity with the 

 gravel or sand about to be used, and then pour- 

 ing into it, from a graduated measure, as much 

 liquid as would exactly fill the interstices, a tole- 

 rable idea of the quantity of slaked lime that it 

 would require, might be obtained." 



The editor of the " Scientific American " re- 

 marks as follows: — ■ 



" Houses should never be built in frosty wea- 

 ther. The best way to slake lime, is to gather it 

 in a heap, wet it gradually with water and keep 

 covering up the sides with sand, like a charcoal 

 pit, and when it has roceived as much water as 

 will reduce it to powder, then it should be en- 

 tirely covered with the sand and left undisturbed 

 for about ten hours. After this it should be 

 mixed with the sand by water aa it is required to 

 be used. This we know to be a good plan, but 

 it is seldom followed in our city." 



Learning not Education. — There is a great mis- 

 take about what is called education. Some sup- 

 pose a learned man is an educated man. No 

 such thing. That man is educated who knows 

 himself, and who takes accurate common-sense 

 views of men and things around him. Some 

 very learned men are the greatest fools in the 

 world : the reason is, that they are not educated 

 men. Learning is only the means, not the end : 

 its value consists in giving the means of acquiring 

 knowledge ; the discipline which, when properly 

 managed, it gives the mind. Some of the great- 

 est men in the world were not overstocked with 

 learning, but their actions proved that they were 

 thoroughly educated. 



Washington. Franklin, Sherman, were of this 

 class; anil similar, though less 3tnking instances, 

 may be found in all countries. To be educated, 

 a man must learn to think, reason, compare, and 

 decide accurately. He may study metaphysics 

 till he is gray, and languages till he is a walking 

 polyglot, and if he is nothing more, he is an un- 

 educated man. There is no class in the country 

 who have a stronger interest in the education of 

 their children than farmers; and the subject 

 should receive from them the attention it de- 

 serves. — Literary Union. 



