320 SUPERNATURAL FIGURE. 



valley of Hasanderah. It evidently depended 

 upon the refraction of the rays of light passing 

 through a stratum of air, in which was suspended 

 or contained a considerable quantity of the vapour 

 of water, and which, of less specific gravity than 

 the air itself, w T as rising from the damp earth in this 

 neighbourhood. On the top of the ridge, standing 

 in high relief, from the grey sky behind him, was 

 a Bedouin, who, of gigantic proportions, seemed to 

 be quite as tall as a very high tree, which was 

 growing near to where he stood. I looked at him 

 with astonishment ; and thought of the enemy 

 described by Ossian's frightened scout, — " I saw 

 their chief, tall as a rock of ice ; his shield 

 the rising moon, his spear a blasted pine ; ' of so 

 enormous a size, was the figure and arms of 

 this supernatural-looking being. Feeling assured 

 that it must be some unusual phenomenon, rather 

 than anything real, I left my seat to examine more 

 closely the unmoving bronze colossus upon the 

 height. A short walk soon proved to me that I 

 was not wrong in my idea of the real character of 

 this appearance, for I found that the tall tree, on 

 my approach, sunk into a low mimosa bush, 

 scarcely five feet high, and the tall giant reduced 

 himself, to the form of my Hy Soumaulee friend, 

 Carmel Ibrahim, who was waiting very leisurely 

 a little apart, like myself, the departure of the 

 Kafilah. 



When the word was given for us to start after 



