of the Old World. 455 



Friday, 19^. The Chef du Bureau Arabe 

 kindly procured for our party a large open carriage, 

 saddle-horses, and baggage-mules, and M. de Burg, 

 a large landholder, kindly lent us a large waggon, 

 with a fine team of six mules, to carry our supplies ; 

 and at about noon we left Bone for the Caravansary 

 of Ain Mokra, accompanied by M. Guyon Vernier 

 and a party of mounted Arabs. 



The road, which was tolerably good, wound along 

 a valley about a couple of miles broad, some portion 

 of which was cultivated, but the greater part was over- 

 grown with a curious kind of wild bulbous plant, 

 which much resembles our daffodil, and lilies of 

 different kinds. 



On either side rose hills some six hundred feet in 

 height, covered with low jungle and brushwood, which 

 M. Vernier informed us were composed chiefly of 

 iron-ore, which yielded 86 per cent, of metal, fully 

 equal to that imported from Sweden. On one of the 

 hills, to the left of the road, a mining company has 

 been established, and a tramway formed to convey 

 the metal to Bone. 



We started three or four hares and a partridge 

 en route, as we rode along. At a short distance from 

 the town is a large loop-holed building, which was 

 formerly the limit of the French jurisdiction, and 

 M. Vernier informed us that he had been present at 

 several skirmishes with the Arabs at that point some 

 fifteen years ago. 



