388 PTOLEMETA TO MERGE, The very difficulty of the road added interest to the scene ; and the mixture of what (with us) would have been garden shrubs, blooming, more luxuriantly than we ever see them in northern cli-/ mates, amidst the wild crags of a neglected ravine, gave a finish and an elegance to its rugged forms which produced the most agreeable association of ideas.

But if we begin to indulge ourselves in recollections of this nature, we shall soon lose the thread of our narrative ; and restraint is the more necessary on the present occasion, as the scenes which presented themselves one after the other, in our route from Ptolemeta to Merge, were nothing but a continued succession of beauties from the beginning to the end of our journey. In about an hour from the time when we began to ascend, we reached the top of the first hill, and were saluted by a wild-looking, dark-featured Arab, who presented us some honey in the comb which is procured in quantities from the neighbouring mountains. This was the first person we had met with in our passage up the ravine, and there was a wildness in his accent as well as in his appearance which suited admirably with the character of the scene. A little farther on we reached some Arab tents, scattered here and there among the bushes and trees, and such of the Bedouins whose tents we passed nearest to came out, and questioned us on the objects of our journey. Te observed in these people the same peculiarities of look and accent which had struck us in our friend of the honeycomb, and they had a bluntness and independence of manner and appearance which afforded us, together with their simplicity, a good deal of pleasure and amusement.