318 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



* devil's water/ and are generally called sraf. Wind- 

 spouts, which nearly always follow in the wake of the 

 chamsin storm, and make an impression of grandeur 

 if they can be observed from the beginning throughout 

 their progress (often in serpentine curves), as was 

 possible from the excavation buildings in the city 

 of Menas, are called * spirit winds.' I was taken 

 to half -ruined cisterns where I could ' hear ' the spirit. 

 A stone was thrown down, and bats or pigeons buzzed 

 or fluttered about in the depths. 



I will only allude here to some among my many 

 experiences which show the bedouin belief in spirits. 

 One evening our cook, Eluani, scared and pale, entered 

 the summer tent we were then occupying and reported 

 that there was an Afrite close by. We had sent him to 

 make a round and see that no unauthorized person was 

 loitering in the excavated city. I was desirous of at 

 last making acquaintance with a ghost, and asked 

 what he looked like. He said a shadow had just passed 

 him, and then a light shone in front of him, and that 

 it remained fixed in one spot. I took down my 

 gun, but Eluani forbade me to take it, as an Afrite 

 must not be approached with a bunduk. As I always 

 carried a revolver, there was not much risk, and I 

 followed him to the spot. It was in the basilica of the 

 Emperor Arcadius. As we approached we really saw 

 a little bright light in the midst of the ruinous blocks 

 of limestone. I approached carefully, recognized what 

 it was, and boldly grasped it. The light instantly 

 ceased, for the lampyris, a fairly big firefly, was caught. 

 I had caught the ghost, went home in triumph, and 

 entered one of the tents where numerous persons had 

 assembled, all eagerly curious. Eluani told the story ; 



