A POPULAR DISH. 181 



excepting for the very poor ; and the general feeling 

 amongst them is that, as this cannot be paid, their homes 

 must be broken up and their families scattered. No won- 

 der, then, that sorrow reigns supreme here now. Sheik 

 Aghill has sent us the two horses we required, and we 

 have reduced his price from thirty to twenty-five dollars 

 apiece. Another valuable addition to our live stock is 

 the goat, for which we have paid two dollars and a half. 

 Having brought amongst our stores a large stock of 

 Anglo-Swiss condensed milk, this has answered all our 

 purposes very well, and it has only recently occurred 

 to us that the presence of a goat would add to our 

 personal comforts. Now, however, the time has arrived 

 when our stores are beginning to show a serious dimi- 

 nution in some of their pleasant rather than necessary 

 items. One especially, from its extreme popularity 

 both amongst our attendants and ourselves, is all but 

 consumed ; and, considering that it has been by special 

 request the invariable daily wind-up to our dinners, it is 

 almost surprising it has lasted so long. I refer to 

 some dried apricots, which, when stewed (' mishmish ') 

 and served with rice, have found such great favour 

 with us. 



Both here and at our last camp we have seen numbers 

 of fireflies, and when it is dark, during the early part 

 of the night, before the moon has risen, it is pleasant to 

 follow them with the eye by the light they evolve as 



