328 EXTRACTS FROM 
mules and ponies, and a host of servants—sun-worshipping 
Druses of the Lebanon—hung about the camp, among the 
rocks. 
Mr. Howard of Beyrout, a general fitter-out of caravans 
and expeditions, was our dragoman. He is a genuine 
Oriental, who in the course of his varied experiences has 
assumed an English name and has put himself under English 
protection ; and we all learnt to appreciate his excellent 
qualities, and the indomitable energy which he displayed on 
occasions when difficult work fell to his share. Howard had 
brought with him two Bedouins—one a negro who had been 
carried off from Africa when quite young, and had been 
wandering about with a tribe of Asiatic Arabs ; the other a 
true Bedouin of the Jordan, hardly darker than a European. 
Both wore the ordinary thick white-and-brown striped 
burnous of the Asiatic tribes, and their duty was to bring in 
a daily supply of partridges for the larder. 
In the evening my uncle and I went out with the pale-faced 
fellow to watch for jackals. We scrambled over hedges and 
walls to a water-tank near the village; but unfortunately 
there was no moon, and nothing appeared before it got dark, 
though we heard the beasts howling at a distance. We 
therefore stumbled back to camp, along the same wretched 
road, stared at by the people of Latrun, who were standing 
about in their long robes, looking like spectres. On our return 
we had a regular dinner in the large mess-tent, followed by 
Turkish coffee and the refreshing repose of well-earned sleep. 
Karly next morning the camp was all astir. The tents 
were struck, everything packed on the mules, and the caravan 
moved off, with the usual tinkling of bells, shouting of mule- 
teers, and neighing of horses. At first the way led through 
narrow mountain valleys, whose steep slopes were covered 
with masses of rock and dense evergreen shrubs. There both 
the country and its flora were of the true Mediterranean type, 
