'240 
clarke's travels. 
penal consul; Signor Beriodno, interpreter to the pacta ; the 
Captain of Djezzar’s body guard; ten Arab soldiers of Ms ca« 
Valry; the cockswain of the captain’s barge; two servants; 
two Arab grooms belonging to Djezsar’s stables ; Antonio Ma~ 
Buraki, our own faithful interpreter; Sir. Cripps; and the 
'author of these travels. This number was soon augmented by 
pilgrims from the different places we passed through, desirous of 
an escort to Jerusalem ; so that at last we formed a redoubta¬ 
ble caravan. In viewing the camps of the country, we were 
struck by the resemblance between the ordinary tents of Eu¬ 
ropean armies, and those used by Arabs in this part of Asia.— 
Perhaps there is no art of man more ancient than that of con¬ 
structing these temporary habitations; but although simplicity 
may be supposed their universal characteristic, they are by no 
means uniformly fashioned among different nations. A variety 
of climate necessarily modifies the mode of their construction. 
The conic dwelling of the Laplander is not shaped after a mo¬ 
del borrowed from the wandering hordes of Tartary ; nor does 
the lodging place of a Calmuck resemble the wide-spreading 
airy pavilions of Syria. To what then can be owing the simili¬ 
tude which exists in this respect, between a tribe of Arabs and 
ihe inhabitants of Europe; unless the latter derived the luxury 
and the elegance of their tents, as they did so many oilier of 
their refinements, from the inhabitants of this country, in the 
time of the crusades ? Where customs are beheld as they ex¬ 
isted during the first ages of the w orld, there is little reason to 
believe the manner of building this kind of dwelling has under¬ 
gone arty material alteration. The tent of an Arab chief, in 
all probability, exhibits, at this day, ah accurate representation 
of fhe Hebrew Shaphcer ,* or regal pavilion of the Land of 
Canaan : its Asiatic form, and the nature of its materials, render 
it peculiarly adapted to the temperature of a Syrian climate: 
but viewing it in northern countries, where it appears rather as 
an article of elegance and of luxury, than of comfort or-of utili¬ 
ty, we can perhaps only explain the history of its introduction 
by reference to events, which, for more than two centuries, 
enabled the inhabitants of such distant countries to maintain an 
intercourse with each other. 
In the beginning of our journey, several of the escort amused 
us by an exhibition of the favourite exercise called djiril :f 
** See Harmer’s Observations on Pass, of Scrip, vol. i. p. 129. etb Lond. 1803, 
f See.c;. vli. of this volume. It is generally written Djerkt. I have written it 'as 
it is pronounced. According to the Chevalier d’Arvieux (Voy. dans la Palestine, 
y. Q2.. Par. 1717 } it takes its name from the weapon used, which is a Djcrid. This 
