EXCURSION TO LAHADJ. 113 
entitled Epitome Renim gestamm in India a Lusitanis that 
this aquedoct, as well as the towers on the summits of the moun- 
tains, were constructed subsequently to this period, for he there 
remarks, that the hills were only accessible to the birds/' and, 
that the water was daily brought in on camels, which on some 
days amounted to fifteen or sixteen hundred, and even to two 
thousand/' and, that if they came in the daytime the water was 
taken into the city, but if in the evening was deposited in a large 
cistern near the water-house,'' the ruins of which have been before 
noticed. It was, in all probability, to obviate the necessity of this 
practice and to render the town independent of the Arabs, that 
the Turks were induced, when fortifying the heights, to construct 
the aqueduct : the first mention of it that I can find is given by a 
French officer who visited the place in 1709, and it was then in use. 
At the end of the plain over which the aqueduct is conducted 
stands a tomb and a caravan-serai dedicated to Sheik Othman. 
Here our party, which had been greatly augmented by a number 
of Bedowee soldiers who had joined us during the march, 
stopped to shelter during the heat of the mid-day; and to refreshus, 
the Dola ordered a repast consisting of broiled fish and a mixture 
of juwarry meal, to be prepared with hot ghee ; of which chiefs, 
masters, soldiers and servants partook in a truly Arabic and pri- 
mitive style, forming altogether a scene which would probably not 
have been very well suited to the fastidious delicacy of some Euro- 
pean stomachs. After this refreshment every one as usual took a 
nap, and, on awaking, those who could alFord it regaled themselves 
with a pipe ; the accustomed antidote in use among the Arabs, 
to alleviate all their cares. 
