ENCAMPMENT OF PILGRIMS. 147 
the rice fields, many of which skirted our road to the right. 
Having arrived at the Be-Si toon rock, we wound round its west¬ 
ern side, and passing the village, soon found ourselves at the 
gate of the caravansary. Both places are within a pistol-shot of 
the sculptured pile. The distance from Sanna to Be-Sitoon, is 
four farsangs, which we accomplished in five hours. The rugged 
monotony of the latter part of our road, had wearied our spirits, 
as well as our cattle ; and, at 9 o’clock, we were glad to turn 
within the porch of our menzil, to refresh both. The lower 
range of the caravansary was filled with pilgrims ; our apartments 
looked down upon the busy groups, and it was long before the 
hum below sufficiently subsided, to allow the weary to find repose. 
When I went out, after my own refreshment, to visit the anti¬ 
quities of the place, I was much struck with the objects that 
presented themselves ; the multitudinous companions of my 
journey, combined into such general harmony of scene, with the 
probable period which gave birth to the subjects of my investi¬ 
gation. The whole valley was covered with the tents of the 
pilgrims ; for a very few, compared with their numbers, could 
find lodgings in the building. These several encampments, ac¬ 
cording to their towns, or districts, were placed a little apart, 
each under its own especial standard. Their cattle were grazing 
about, and the people who attended them, in their primitive 
eastern garbs. Women appeared, carrying in water from the 
brooks, and children were sporting at the tent-doors. Towards 
evening, this pious multitude, to the number of eleven hundred 
at least, began their evening orisons, literally shouting their 
prayers, while the singing of the hymns, responded by the echoes 
from the mountains, was almost deafening. At intervals, during 
the devotion, matchlocks, muskets, and pistols, were repeatedly 
u 2 
