376 EXTRACTS FROM 
it. I galloped over the steppe, having to clamber across some 
gullies, and then came to a spot where a little spring bubbled 
out merrily among low cliffs and a perfect garden of luxu- 
riant shrubs and flowers. Following the course of the water 
along the top of the rocks, I reached the edge of the plateau, 
where a steep slope fell away in front of me, and below it I 
saw to my great joy green meadows and wooded pastures 
with the silver thread of the Jordan running through them. 
I soon got to the riverside, the gentlemen came up one 
after another, and we selected good places for resting and 
bathing. At this spot the river made a considerable bend, 
forming a peninsula covered with woods denser and more 
exuberant in growth than any I had hitherto seen. We 
rested on the meadow-land by the edge of this wood, in the 
shade of the trees and bushes, and let the horses graze ; and 
after bathing in the cool rushing waters, disposed of a modest 
lunch consisting of bread and cold meat. Here, as throughout 
its course, the Jordan has quite the character of a mountain- 
stream, and tears along among rocks and large stones. 
After our frugal meal I determined to have a look at the 
wood, and to try to get up a little beat. The first half of the 
peninsula was covered with bushes somewhat above the height 
of a man and closely bound together with creepers, while the 
ground was thickly overgrown with large-leaved plants of all 
sorts, the whole being so dense and luxuriant that it was 
hardly possible to push through it, and every step forward 
required the exercise of one’s whole strength. Having 
managed to get through the first part of the cover, we reached 
an opening which bisected the wood, and there I found in the 
loamy soil an incredible number of fresh traces of Panthers, 
Lynxes, Wild Cats, Wild Boars, Porcupines, Wolves, and 
Jackals. There were also the tracks of two kinds of Deer, 
and these, which appeared to belong to a small roe-like animal 
and to a larger fallow-deer sort of beast, interested us much, 
