tion was S. W. 50 deg..

Shaykh Masud allowed us only four hours' halt; he wished to precede the
main body. After breaking our fast joyously upon limes, pomegranates,
and fresh dates, we sallied forth to admire the beauties of the place.
We are once more on classic ground, the ground of the ancient Arab
poets:--

"Deserted is the village--waste the halting place and home
At Mina; o'er Rijam and Ghul wild beasts unheeded roam;
On Rayyan hill the channel lines have left a naked trace,
Time-worn, as _primal Writ that dints the mountains flinty face_;"--

and this wady, celebrated for the purity of its air, has from remote
ages been a favorite resort of the Meccans. Nothing can be more soothing
to the brain than the dark-green foliage of the limes and pomegranates;
and from the base of the southern hill bursts a bubbling stream, whose

"Chiare, fresche e dolci acque"

flow through the garden, filling them with the most delicious of
melodies, and the gladdest sound which nature in these regions knows.

Exactly at noon Masud seized the halter of the foremost camel, and we
started down the fiumara. Troops of Bedouin girls looked over the
orchard walls laughingly, and children came out to offer us fresh fruit
and sweet water. At 2 P.M., traveling southwest, we arrived at a point
where the torrent-bed turns to the right, and quitting it, we climbed
with difficulty over a steep ridge of granite. Before three o'clock we
entered a hill-girt plain, which my companions called "Sola." In some
places were clumps of trees, and scattered villages warned us that we
were approaching a city. Far to the left rose the blue peaks of Taif,
and the mountain road, a white thread upon the nearer heights, was
pointed out to me. Here I first saw the tree, or rather shrub, which
bears the balm of Gilead, erst so celebrated for its tonic and stomachic
properties. I told Shaykh to break off a twig, which he did heedlessly.
The act was witnessed by our party with a roar of laughter, and the
astounded Shaykh was warned that he had become subject to an atoning
sacrifice. Of course he denounced me as the instigator, and I could not
fairly refuse assistance. The tree has of late years been carefully
described by many botanists; I will only say that the bark resembled in
color a cherry-stick pipe, the inside was a light yellow, and the juice
made my fingers stick together.

At 4 P.M. we came to a steep and rocky pass, up which we t