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

SYRIA, EGYPT, GERMANY, &C. 195
bricks baked in the sun, with a roof composed of the trunks of
large trees, covered with a thick layer of mud, which serves for a
garden. The common mallow, a vegetable which the inhabitants
eat when boiled, and of which they are very fond, grew abundantly
on these earth-clad roofs, the verdant surface of which would have
prevented me from recognizing the village until I came close to it,
had it not been for the minaret of the mosque, a certain indication
of the existence of buildings on the spot.
On my return in the af-
ternoon I was told that a herd of antelopes were grazing on a hill
adjacent to the encampment. Having engaged a party, we rode
but the fleetness
extraordinary
of these animals
out with our guns ;
soon eluded our pursuit. We saw large flocks of quails, which
are very abundant in this
part of Syria, as are also the
jackals, by
whose lamentable howlings we were nightly
infested in the camp.
Probably these were the animals which Samson made use of to destroy
the harvests of the Philistines.
The necessary arrangements were made on the 19th for the fu-
ture progress and active operations of the Ottoman army, with a
view to which Mahomed Pacha was appointed Seraskier, or commander
of the troops under the Vizier; and Taker Pacha nomi-
nated to'the command of an advanced body of mounted Arnauts.
Captain Lacey, with a §mall detachment of the royal artillery and
royal military artificers, was ordered to accompany Mahomed Pacha;
and Captain Leake, of the royal artillery, also at the head of
a small detachment, was to accompany Taher Pacha. These of-
ficers, both British and Turkish, were furnished with instructions,
copies of which were respectively exchanged between the Grand
Vizier and Colonel
Ilolloway. Previously
to his departure with
Taher Pacha, Captain Leake was invested with a pelice by order
of the Vizier.
A corps of about four hundred and fifty cavalry, sent by Pfjezzar
Pacha, arrived in the encamnment at this time. The Grand
Vizier detached two thousand of his troops towards El-Arish, for
which destination Taher Pacha was to set out in the course of a
day
or two.
A discharge
of cannon was made on the morning of die 20th,
on the occasion of the appointment of Mahomed Pacha to the post
and
dignity of Seraskier. This event was also I proclaims to every
The Vizier shifted his tent t j the cen-
part of the Turkish army.
ire of the encampments,