282 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
children were remarkable for the beauty of their features; 
the men had also fine features and a commanding air about 
them even in their rags ; hut they were a swarthy, unwashed 
set of vagabonds at best, and lived in a style more suitable to 
a village of beavers than to any thing of the human kind. 
In the winter the greater part of the plain of El Huleh is 
covered with water; all the small streams from the mount¬ 
ains swell the lake till it overflows its low banks and spreads 
around for many miles. The sources of the Jordan may be 
considered as flowing chiefly from the neighborhood of Ba- 
neas; but every stream that runs into the lake of El Huleh 
forms in reality an additional source, as they all unite in the 
lake, and eventually find their way, through the Sea of Gal¬ 
ilee, into the main river Jordan, which winds from thence 
a distance of seventy miles into the Dead Sea. 
On leaving the Bedouin villages we rode on toward Ain- 
el-Malaha, or the Stream of the Mill. Our dragoman, who 
had maintained a profound silence for some hours, while in 
the vicinity of the Bedouins, now gave vent to one of those 
sudden paroxysms of fury which had frequently alarmed us 
with apprehensions of an attack from some hidden enemy. 
We were riding along very pleasantly, not dreaming of the 
least danger, when Yusef, without the slightest warning, 
dashed madly out of our ranks, yelling like the very demon 
of wrath, and whirling his gun fiercely over his head. The 
war-whoop of an American Indian could not compare at all 
with the battle-cry of our ferocious dragoman. Away he 
scoured over the plain, causing the earth to fly up from his 
horse’s hoofs in a perfect shower, turning and rearing, charg¬ 
ing and chasing the enemy. Arrived at close quarters, he 
fired his gun; then drew his pistols and fired them, and then 
with a savage yell drew his sword, which he flourished with 
one hand, and his dagger, which he flourished with the other, 
and then he laid about him in front and behind, and on the 
left side and the right side, cleaving skulls, ripping, cutting, 
and thrusting, and charging over dead bodies, and shriek¬ 
ing madly for more live ones to come on. “ Villains, cow¬ 
ards, dogs! the whole of you together come on! come on! 
