442 CALIM. 
and asses. As there was not a tree near it, we went into a room 
built over the gateway. Here, as the wind was very fresh, we were 
nearly smothered with dust. The Schech had been wounded by 
some Osmanlis for their amusement ; he could not therefore wait on 
us, but his brother did, and gave us the camels and asses, with which 
our people immediately set out for Calim. This village had been 
attacked a few nights before, by the inhabitants of another, in hopes 
of carrying off their sheep and cattle ; but they had been repulsed, 
with the loss of two killed and one taken prisoner, who had been 
sent to Mahallet-el-Kebeer. Soon after three we were on our way, 
and by seven reached Calim, and encamped under some trees, 
where the air was cool, and pleasanter than in the town. We were 
received very civilly by the Schech, a respectable man, whose 
father had been a Mameluke, and had married the daughter of the 
former Schech. Formerly the town must have been handsome, but 
now it is greatly decayed. We had passed a village, which our guides 
said had been a French village. This town, the Schech informed me, 
had formerly a fortification, which had been built before the Mussul- 
mauns came into the country, but of which there was not now a 
vestige. The country we had passed through is very rich, but a 
great part of it lies waste. Wheat formed the chief crop ; many fields 
were sown with clover or hemp, and in some places the people were 
watering the ground for rice. We saw only one field of oats, and a 
few plantations of cotton ; cucumbers, water melons, and gourds, 
are raised near every village. The people seemed extremely indus- 
trious, in defiance of the oppressions under which they laboured. 
May 16. — We took coffee and cakes with the Schech, under the 
gateway of his house. He told us his brother had been shot by som^ 
