THE MILL OF MALAHA. 
299 
bent upon him as a man of honor, known throughout Syria, 
and even to the remotest corners of England and America, as 
a dragoman, who never lied or took advantage of the liberality 
of his employers, to pay just and reasonable prices for every 
thing, and that he could not reconcile it to a sense of duty to 
pay more than four piasters; but that he had not the slight¬ 
est doubt that the backshish would amount to treble that 
sum. At this the miller shook his head dismally, grunted a 
few words of doubt, which I interpreted to signify that he 
had become rather accustomed to promises of that kind; then 
puffed his chibouck awhile, and ended by waving his hand 
for us to enter. By this time it had begun to rain, and we 
were glad enough to find shelter. 
If the external appearance of the mill was disheartening, 
the interior was absolutely dramatic and inspiring. Stables I 
had slept in; caves, haystacks, trees, and the broad canopy 
of heaven had afforded me lodgings in cases of emergency; 
but I had seen nothing half so strange or curious in the way 
of accommodations for a night’s rest as the mill of Malaha. 
It was just high enough to stand up in where the arches that 
supported the roof ran up to a point; but these arches being 
very rough and irregular, and the ground, consisting chiefly 
of holes, it was necessary to crawl into the dark recesses on 
our hands and feet. The water made a tremendous rush un¬ 
derneath ; and, looking through the broken parts of the floor, 
there was every prospect of tumbling through during the 
night, and being carried down among the wheels, and after¬ 
ward deposited in the lake of El Huleh. Following Yusef, 
who carried a dim lamp in his hand, we narrowly escaped 
being ground to pieces by two grindstones, which flew round 
continually at a tremendous rate, without any covering over 
them ; and in the course of time having worked our way over 
several holes and through a good many puddles of foul water, 
we found ourselves on a sort of elevation about a foot high, 
close by the grindstones again, where we learned that we were 
to spend the night. The dust and chaff, together with the 
intense darkness notwithstanding the lamp, and a thick 
cloud of smoke from a crowd of Arabs, hid away somewhere 
