ARAB BOATS. 
203 
I never yet looked upon any of those fearful linea- 
ments in nature, the sight of which causes the blood to 
creep through the frame with a sluggish flow,, or to 
rush onward with an almost painful revulsion,, that I 
have not felt my soul working with those lofty aspi- 
rations which elevate it from the common contempla- 
tion of things into a sublime purity of sentiment at 
once edifying and entrancing. The least attractive 
flower contains its honey as well as the most beau- 
tiful. 
On our return from Muttra,, I was particularly 
impressed with the poverty of vegetation every- 
where visible. The monotony of the prospect was 
nevertheless occasionally relieved by several pictu- 
resque castles,, standing upon the very peaks of the 
rocks,, and frowning over the precipices beneath them 
with a solitary solemnity that addressed a mute but 
intelligible sentiment to every bosom. The rugged 
outline of the mountain-scenery opening upon our 
sight in an endless variety of form., as we gradually 
advanced,, and breaking in perpetually changing con- 
figurations upon the clear blue sky, which brought it 
into prominent relief, forcibly struck us, from its sin- 
gular and impressive novelty. The peculiar shape, too, 
of the vessels which here and there dotted the clear 
expanse of the gulf, as we moved leisurely upon its 
placid waters, contrasted beautifully with the grim 
and lifeless sterility of the general scene. 
Some of these boats, which are called buggolas, are 
of singular construction. They are ordinary trading- 
vessels of the Arabs between Mascat and the Malabar 
coast, where they are generally built, and chiefly, I 
