OF THE OLD WORLD. 459 



rooms, but a very poor supper, after having par- 

 taken of which we "turned in," being extremely 

 tired and shaken with our journey. 



Saturday, 13th. — When we got up this morning 

 we were most disagreeably surprised to find that a 

 complete change had taken place in the weather, 

 frost having set in during the night ; and the wind 

 was bitterly cold and raw, though yesterday in 

 the plains we had experienced the heat of summer 

 in England. Towards noon the sun came out, and 

 we walked about the town, which is most curiously 

 placed on a perpendicularly-scarped height, which is 

 divided from another mountain by a steep chasm or 

 ravine about fifty yards broad and two hundred feet 

 in depth, at the bottom of which flows the river 

 Oued el Eummel, (the Eiver of Sand.) 



An old Roman stone-bridge, of two rows of arches, 

 formerly connected the town with the surrounding 

 country ; but it was carried away a short time ago, 

 having stood for centuries, and the funds of the 

 town not being in a sufficiently flourishing state to 

 repair it, the soldiers have constructed a kind of 

 steep winding road down the sides of the ravine, 

 which enters the town at the ancient gateway El 

 Kantara, (of the Bridge.) There are two other gates, 

 one the Port de la Breche, by which we entered, 

 and the other a small postern, leading down into 

 the ravine by a steep path, impassable for car- 

 riages. 



The town is surrounded by an old ^Moorish ere- 



