Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and across the desert into Egypt ...

I9O
TRAVELS IN A9IATIC TURKEY,
commanding view of the surrounding country,
which was decora-
ted with the finest scenery. As well as that through which w#
had recently passed, it appeared to us like an earthly paradise, when
contrasted with the barren and sandy hills in the vicinity of Jaffa,
to the cheerless aspect of which we had been accustomed for near-
ly nine months. The camp surrounded the ruins of an old vil-
lage, called Mouta-moud, near to which were several groups of
fig-trees, whose appearance announced them to be nearly
as old
as the runious
buildings
with which they were connected. The
fertile plains which extended themselves around us in every direction,
afforded excellent pasture for cattle, and had received a new
verdure from the late falls of rain, by which the growth of the
corn had been also much forwarded. There was so
great a scarci-
ty of this essential object of consumption in the camp, that the
Vizier was under the
necessity
of
altering
his plan, and of march-
ing forward to Gaza the next morning. The unfortunate horses,
who had .
suffered so much from the fatigues of the
preceding
marches, were left without
barley, and were almost in as de-
plorable a condition as the camels, to whom the wet weather had
been extremely unfavourable. The latter being accustomed to the
parching heats of the deserts, in which there is an almost perpetu-
al drought, subsist there under circumstances which would subject
other animals to perish through hunger and thirst. The climate of
the deserts, for which they appear to have been formed, may
therefore be considered as natural to them ; but they cannot endure
moisture, however hardy in other respects, and powerful in supporting
the burdens with which they are charged. That their free
and docile nature is much abused, was manifested on the route to
Esdad, the second day's march, when the roads were rendered almost
impracticable by the torrents of rain which poured down, and
when, as I have already stated, a very
these laborious and useful animals perished.
considerable number of
During the greater part of the night the Turks were occupied
in preparing for their departure; and on the 15th at day-break the
camels were laden. Before we quitted the ground, 1 availed myself
of the little leisure which was afforded me to make a short ex-
cursion into the adjacent country. I rode to the summit of a
lofty
hill, whence I saw to the north-east, at the distance of a mile and
a half from the camp, a populous village,
the mosque of which
was provided with a minaret of considerable elevation. The buil-
dings of Ascalon were not perceptible; but the olive-trees by