268 
clarke’s travels. 
Ding to see what was the cause of her cries, we observed an 
enormous serpent, which she had found near her infant, and 1 
had completely despatched before our arrival. Never were 
maternal feelings more strikingly pourtrayed than in the coun¬ 
tenance of this woman. Not satisfied with having killed the 
animal, she continued her blows until she had reduced it to 
atoms, unheeding any thing that was said to her, and only ab¬ 
stracting her attention from its mangled body to cast, occasion¬ 
ally, a wild and momentary glance toward her child. 
In the evening we visited the environs, and, walking to the 
brow of a hill above the town, were gratilbd by an interesting 
prospect of the long valley of Nazareth, and some hills between 
which a road leads to the neighbouring plain of Esdraelon, and 
to Jerusalem; Some of the Arabs came to converse with us. 
We were surprised to hear them speaking Italian: they said 
they had been early instructed in this language, by the friars 
of the convent. Their conversation was full of complaints 
against the rapacious tyranny of their governors. One of them 
said, “ Beggars in England are happier and better than we 
poor Arabs.” “ Why Letter ?” said one of our party. “ Hap¬ 
pier” replied the Arab who had made the observation, “iti a 
good government: Letter , because they will hot endure a bad 
me” 
The plants near the town were almost all w ithered. We 
found ouly four of which we were able to select tolerable spe¬ 
cimens. These were, the new species of dianlhus, mention¬ 
ed in the account of our journey from Sephoury, the Syrian 
pinky or dianthiis monadelpJms the a?nmi e optician ;f and 
the aniheum graveolens these w e carefully placed in our 
herbary, as memorials 1 of the interesting spot whereon they 
were collected. We observed the manner of getting in the 
harvest; it is carried on the backs of camels; and the corn 
being afterward placed in heaps, is trodden out by bullocks 
walking lo a circle ; something like the mode of treading com 
In the Crimea, where horses are used for this purpose. 
The second night after our arrival, as soon as it grew dark, 
we all stretched ourselves upon the floor of our apartment, not 
without serious alarm of catching the plague, but tempted by 
the hope of obtaining a little repose. This we had found im¬ 
practicable the night before, in consequence of the vermin. 
The hope was, however, vain; not one of our party could 
Ventenai thw f Una. et Dili 
