We Passed A Stream Which They Said Had Swallowed Up Some
Persons, And Was Very Dangerous.
A muddy stream, they add, is often very
fatal to travellers.
The Bey surprised Captain B. by sending him a
handsome black horse as a present; he also sent a grey one to the
Frenchman, who, when complaining of it, saying that it was a bad one, to
the Bey's mamelukes, his Highness sent for it, and gave him another.
Under such circumstances, Saint Mary ought to have looked very foolish.
The Bey shot a kader, a handsome bird, rather larger than a partridge,
with black wings, and flies like a plover. We had a large
hawking-establishment with us, some twenty birds, very fine falconry,
which sometimes carried off hares, and even attacked young goat-kids.
Marched to a place called Gilma, near which the road passes through an
ancient town. Shaw says, "Gilma, the ancient Cilma, or Oppidum
Chilmanenense, is six leagues to the east-south-east of Spaitla. We have
here the remains of a large city, with the area of a temple, and some
other fragments of large buildings. According to the tradition of the
Arabs, this place received its name in consequence of a miracle
pretended to have been wrought by one of their marabouts, in bringing
hither the river of Spaitla, after it was lost underground. For Ja Elma
signifies, in their language, 'The water comes!' an expression we are to
imagine of surprise at the arrival of the stream."
During our tour, the mornings were generally cold.
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