beautifully written; they were, however, so
imperfect, that in the short time I was there, and pestered as I was by
a crowd of gaping Arabs, I was unable to discover what they were.

I was allowed to purchase three MSS., with which the next day I and my
companion departed on our way to the Dead Sea, our friend the sheick
having, from the moment that he was convinced we were nothing better or
worse than Englishmen and sight-seers, treated us with all manner of
civility.

On arriving at the Dead Sea I forthwith proceeded to bathe in it, in
order to prove the celebrated buoyancy of the water, and was nearly
drowned in the experiment, for, not being able to swim, my head got much
deeper below the water than I intended. Two ignorant pilgrims, who had
joined our party for protection, baptized each other in this filthy
water, and sang psalms so loudly and discordantly that we asked them
what in the name of wonder they were about, when we discovered that they
thought this was the Jordan, and were sorely grieved at their
disappointment. We found several shells upon the shore and a small dead
fish, but perhaps they had been washed down by the waters of the Jordan
or the Kedron: I do not know how this may be.

We wandered about for two or three days in this hot, volcanic, and
sunken region, and thence proceeded to Jericho. The mountain of
Quarantina, the scene of the forty days' temptation of our Saviour, is
pierced all over with the caves excavated by the ancient anchorites, and
which look like pigeons' nests. Some of them are in the most
extraordinary situations, high up on the face of tremendous precipices.
However, I will not attempt to detail the singularities of this wild
district; we visited the chief objects of interest, and a big book that
I brought from St. Sabba is endeared to my recollections by my having
constantly made use of it as a pillow in my tent during our wanderings.
It was somewhat hard, undoubtedly; but after a long day's ride it
served its purpose very well, and I slept as soundly as if it had been
read to me.

At two subsequent periods I visited this region, and purchased seven
other MSS. from St Sabba; among them was the Octoteuch of the tenth, if
not the ninth, century, which I esteem one of the most rare and precious
volumes of my library.

We made a somewhat singular discovery when travelling among the
mountains to the east of the Dead Sea, where the ruins of Ammon, Jerash,
and Adjeloun well repa