LEH. 101 







immense labour, and are fenced in by the rounded stones 

 simply placed one on the other to the height of three feet. 

 Just as we arrive at the cultivation, are found surrounding 

 a small rocky eminence a number of strange looking trees 

 of the fir species, which at first I conceived to be cedars, 

 but on a close examination in the evening believe them to 

 be junipers of unusual proportions and of an antiquity 

 dating centuries back. These are the first trees of the 

 sort I have seen in the country, and there are none 

 others to be heard of. This would induce the belief that 

 they are not indigenous. 



I fixed the site of my bivouac on a barren rocky hill, 

 the best the place afforded, and breakfasted beneath the 

 shade of a spreading rose bush, bearing an abundance of 

 fine blossoms of a large, full, double kind, but wanting 

 in fragrance still a most agreeable canopy. 



My eifects to day, as yesterday, were in part borne on 

 the shoulders, not delicate, of women, they always bearing 

 their share of like burdens, their share by far the largest. 

 They appeared quite at home at the labour, and seemed 

 rather to like it, laughing and chatting cheerfully the 

 hideous, good-humoured wretches. They, one and all, 

 here wear a remarkable coiffure : a black leather or 

 cloth flap or lappet being worn under the hair so as to 

 protect the ears, to this a fringe is appended, and the 

 frowzy locks in plaits are brought over it in loops, and 

 are tucked up behind, having much the appearance our 

 own dames might have, if after adjusting their chevelure 

 they rubbed their heads for a considerable time in the 

 coal skuttle, and then were dragged through a furze bush. 

 Still there was a sort of resemblance to the style. In 

 every individual the hair is parted in the centre, and over 

 this central division is placed an ornament, a black band 

 on which are fastened pieces of turquoise, some very large 



M 



