ngerous condition, in consequence of a considerable
portion of the mosque having fallen on it a short time since.
Notwithstanding this, however, the people are heedless enough to
continue occupying it. Only a few steps' distance a lofty palm was
recently blown down by a violent storm. Thus the works both of man and
nature meet with a common destruction, the inhabitants not thinking it
worth while to do the least in the way of repair, or to make the
slightest attempt to protect themselves against impending danger.
Lethargy and nonchalance are the leading characteristics of Eastern
nations, and a certain evidence of the gradual decay of their religion
and race.

There is another mosque in the village opposite the Kala, but without a
minaret. From its exterior it is scarcely to be recognised as a Jama.
Near one of the ruined towers of the Kala's outer enclosure, and at the
corner of a house on the road to Gaza, stand ancient pedestals, serving
as seats for the Mayor, Sheik el Beled.

The Souk or Bazaar of Khanyunis is formed by two streets lined with
wretched Turkish shops, with mud or clay projections for seats. The
doors are made to flap upward, but they close imperfectly; the roofs
are, as usual, made of the Artemisia shrub. The goods exposed in these
shops come for the most part from Gaza and Jaffa; but the caps of
camel's hair and of cotton, as well as the white and black Syrian
mantles, are made by the villagers themselves. At the end of the
village, near the Souk, and on the road to El Harish, is the second
public well, about 18 fathoms deep, and built entirely of ancient marble
fragments. At the side is a cistern with cattle-troughs of the same
material, which evidently belongs to a more flourishing period than the
present. Somewhat further on, behind a slight hollow with stagnant water
and a few palm trees, in the Akaba and Suez road, is the burial-ground,
containing a few whitewashed tombs of step-like construction. At the
opposite end of the village, where the road is open to the surrounding
country, we came upon a hollow with embankments, and then took the road
leading to Benishaela.

In the neighbourhood of Benishaela there are many gardens, which bear
witness to the extreme fertility of the soil; though unfortunately there
is not a single well among them. Almonds and apricots are the chief
productions, and the raised ground enclosing them is often covered with
small branches of the thorny "Sidr." Near the