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that my imagination pictured to itself the quarrels of 
Abraham's shepherds with those of Lot, the war of the 
five kings, &c. They still preserve the same character, 
manners, and customs, as also the same costume, which 
consists of a shirt of reddish white wool, bound round 
the waist by a girdle or leathern belt, a black cloth thrown 
over the shoulders, and a piece of white cloth round 
the head. 
Having taken leave of the shepherds,* I continued my 
route towards the south, having Bethlem upon the left, 
with Beit Djela upon the right; and in a few minutes 
beheld the finest spectacle of a meteor which it is pos- 
sible to imagine. 
The sun which was upon our left had risen nearly 
thirty degrees above the horizon, and was very brilliant, 
because the atmosphere was perfectly transparent. The 
moon, approaching to its last quarter, was upon our 
right, at nearly the same height as the sun, and was as 
bright and clear as it is possible to see it under similar 
circumstances. I saw appear under the form of a star, 
two or three times as large and much more luminous 
than Jupiter or Venus, in their greatest splendour, a 
meteor which unfolded, to the eastward, a tail which ap- 
peared to me to be about two degrees in length. I could 
not help exclaiming, Kif hada! kif hada! " What is 
that! what is that!" My people, who were also struck 
with astonishment, cried out, Minn Allah! Minn Allah! 
%. From God! From God!" Meantime the meteor ad- 
vanced towards the west, gently waving its tail, in a 
horizontal direction, at an altitude of nearly thirty de- 
grees, or about that of the sun and moon. In the tail, 
which afterwards divided into several rays, were united 
all the colours of the rainbow in its greatest beauty. 
The meteor having traversed in its peaceful progress 
