200 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
with the exception of its use in estimating distances, they 
appear to have no knowledge of its value whatever. We 
were to have started at six, but it was nine before we got 
rightly under way. 
Our Arab muleteers were slow, and although Yusef swore 
himself completely out of breath, and to the best of my knowl¬ 
edge entirely exhausted the vocabulary of strong expressions 
in Arabic, they made no effort to hurry the matter in the 
least. On the contrary, I was rather struck with the resigned 
manner in which they bore his violent reproaches and fero¬ 
cious denunciations, and the cool air with which they puffed 
their chiboucks after the slightest exertion. On the beach, as 
we passed along through the village of Juna, we observed 
the wreck of a vessel—one of the many driven ashore on this 
coast every winter. In Beirut we were told that not less than 
eight or ten were lost in this way every winter; the coast of 
Syria from Tripoli to Damietta affording no secure harbor for 
shipping. The road beyond Juna to the next point or pass we 
found rocky and precipitous, much like what we had passed, 
only still more tiresome. It should be borne in mind that 
roads in Syria are not like the roads we are accustomed to 
at home, which, bad as they are compared with the roads 
through Italy, have yet some pretensions to the name ; but 
here to dignify them by such a name is a complete perversion 
of the word. The bridle paths of Switzerland are magnificent 
highways compared with them, and in thus speaking of them 
I merely adopt the ordinary language of travelers. I have 
seen nothing like them except in crossing the Isthmus of Pa¬ 
nama ; imagine that Isthmus extended an indefinite number 
of miles, and you have some idea of Syrian roads. Fortu¬ 
nately, the horses of this country are remarkable for their 
sureness of foot and powers of endurance. 
Not far beyond Juna is the bed of a river called El Mah- 
milton, over which is the arch of an old Homan bridge, con¬ 
spicuous for its massive proportions and fine architectural 
style. Nothing remained of the river but its bed, most of the 
streams throughout the country having been dried by the long 
and uninterrupted drought for the last eight months. In the 
