300 
■caravan to halt for fear of meeting him, as he would 
infallibly have put the camels in requisition for his 
baggage. 
Friday, 2\st August. 
All those who were mounted upon horses resolved 
about half past four in the morning to go on before, and 
to leave their camels with the bulk of the caravan. We 
therefore set out to the number of thirty horsemen, 
towards the east, up a toilsome ascent, the summit of 
which forms a flat country, covered with holm and 
other trees thinly planted, but as we advanced the wood 
became thicker. At half past eight having passed a high 
mountain to the left, we found ourselves on a large 
barren plain, and at a quarter past nine we halted to 
breakfast, in a khan which was half in ruins called 
Kinitri, where we found some very good water. 
We continued our route at half past ten, over the 
same plain, in which, notwithstanding the assurance we 
had received of the safety of the country, we were twice 
alarmed by the appearance of the Bedouins. 
It was one o'clock when our cavalcade entered 
another si$all wood, having passed through which we 
proceeded by a difficult and dangerous road to the foot 
of a village called Sassa, situated upon an eminence, 
where we arrived at half past four, and passed the night 
in a khan. 
The phlegean fields, and all that can present an idea 
of volcanic destruction, form but a feeble image of the 
frightful country through which I passed this day. 
From the bridge of Jacob to Sassa the whole ground 
Is composed of nothing but lava, basal tes, and other 
volcanic productions; all is black, porous, or carious; it 
like travelling in the infernal regions. 
