THE PREFACE. 



times t'wehe, fometimes fifteen Hours together. Nay, in 

 returning from Jerufalem, [Jo vigilant were the Arabs 

 at that Time in diftrejfmg the 'Pilgrims, ) that notwith- 

 fianding we had the Sheck {or Saint) of Amount Carmel, 

 with twenty of his Servants toproteci us, we relied only one 

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

 velling betwixt Sichem and ^^Wlount 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. Ourconfiant 

 Praciice 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 leaH confpicuous. 

 And indeed fometimes , unlefs we difcovered the Smoke of their 

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

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

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

 commodated with Lodgings and Provijions for that Night ; 

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

 Poet exprejjes it, 



We chance to find 



A new Repaft, or an untafted Spring; 



We blefs our Stars, and think it Luxury. 

 In travelling along the CoaB of Syria, and from Sue2: 

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

 robbed or injulted, provided we keep Company with theCsL- 

 ravan, and do not firay from it. But a Negleci 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 l^oly 

 Land, and upon the lilhmus betwixt Egypt and the Red 

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

 from fifty to five Hundred, beingfometimes looking outforaBoo^ 

 ty. This was the Cafe of our Q2iX2iN2in, in travelling (A.D, 

 1722.) from Ramah to Jerufalem; where four Bands 



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