ebin izaak's treat. 231 



any meat upon them. Pushing one extremity of 

 the continuous bones towards me, he said very 

 abruptly, " Yarcul " (eat). I could not help smil- 

 ing at the scanty appearance of the repast, but 

 immediately assented to the proposal, and catching 

 hold of my end, we began twisting and pulling to 

 separate the bones, till at last when they did go, and 

 I got possession of the thigh bone for my share, both 

 of us nearly lurched over on opposite sides of our 

 mules, and we had each to grip fast hold of the 

 mane, with the hand that was at liberty, to retain 

 our seats in the saddle. What little meat was on 

 the bones was soon stript off with our teeth, during 

 which time Ebin Izaak accounted for his possession 

 of the treat, no sheep having been killed in our 

 Kafilah, by saying that it was the generous gift 

 of some valued friend, belonging to the Kafilah 

 of Mahomed Allee. 



Our road lay along a smooth level plain of 

 yellow marl, cracked in every direction by the 

 baking heat of the sun, whilst the mirage before 

 us mocked the dryness of the soil, by the affecta- 

 tion of the appearance of nature's most refreshing 

 gift, either to animals or to the equally thirsty 

 earth. 



The distortion of all objects that could be per- 

 ceived in the mirage was very remarkable ; small 

 stones became huge rocks, and thin tufts of grass 

 assumed the figure of ostriches ; and I was taken 

 in most certainly, much to the amusement of Ebin 



