150 SHORT STALKS 



a little soil they roughly terrace it and grow l)arley. To 

 keep oft' Ijirils and beasts they l)uild a little pyramid of 

 stones painted white, to represent a crouching Arab, 

 Their villages harmonise so closely with the rocks that in 

 a bad liglit you may stumble on one, and fail to see it is 

 a village at all. On one occasion such a mishap did occur 

 to two of our party. We had moved camp to the village 

 of Hammam, of wliicli they knew the approximate position, 

 l)ut they missed it, and slept supperless on the liill. We 

 pitched our first camp by a little ain, or spring, the 

 thread-like trickle of which was sufticient for our wants. 

 Here, or hereabouts, we spent a week in a position even 

 more commandino- than the Metlili. Thouo-h we o-ot two 

 more sheep, our hunting adventures did not dift^er greatly 

 from previous experiences. We varied our bag, liowever, 

 l)y stalking a very large boar in the open, a somewliat 

 uncommon experience, as those animals rarely leave the 

 cover l)y daylight. 



A goatherd, with whom we carried on a pantomimic 

 conversation on the hill, after describino- the wav in which 

 tlie aroui hide themiselves, and then sneak away when 

 you are gone, had told us there were immense quantities 

 of Ijoar in that part. "TIaloxf hczef, hezc-e-e-f?''' he 

 repeated, screaming out the last syllable, and waving his 

 arms. 



As we Avere returning to camp I saw Ijetween us and 

 tlie setting sun the dim outline of a large animal, wliich 1 

 toolv f(n' a donkev, of wliicli there were several about, 

 (^erald confirmed my impression, as he said lie saw it wag 

 its tail. We walked on, but presently I tiiought lietter o1" 

 it and took out iiiv oiass, wdien I found it was a lar2;e 



