Within a short time the doctor came with strict orders from the Pasha not to leave me till I was well. He spoke Italian fluently, as well as Turkish and Greek. He was full of persevering, quiet energy and good-will, which inspired me with confidence immediately. He administered small doses of castor oil, well mixed with sugar, water, gum arabic, and magnesia, in equal proportions, and prescribed linseed and mustard poultices. He prepared stiff, sweet starch, and some meal porridge with a little magnesia in it, and gave them to me in small quantities now and then, with lime-flower water to drink. He did not leave the house for three days and nights, and by Thursday, thanks to his skill and Katrîne's care, I was quite cured of my "slight prettiness," which was of a dangerous kind, and said to be cholera.
We met with great sympathy from our neighbors. On the evening when I first left my room a company of singers came on to the terrace to serenade me, improvising songs of rejoicing, and praying that I might soon "walk forth in the gardens, to breathe the air with strength and gladness of heart."
On the 1st of November I saw an immense number of swallows perched on the house-tops and on the ropes of the flagstaffs. I was told that they had been gathering there for several days. Before evening I saw them all assemble and take flight toward the south. They looked like a dusky cloud moving swiftly through the air.
Our friend, Saleh Sekhali, and his family, also migrated. They went to Nazareth, for they feared the cholera, and tried to persuade us to accompany them.
The most unhealthy period in Palestine is that which occurs after the falling of the first few autumnal showers,[1]
- ↑ The "early rain" spoken of in the Bible refers, I believe, to the autumnal showers, which are never very violent. They fall gently, and by degrees, and revive the parched and burnt-up earth after the Summer drought, and enable the peasants to sow wheat and barley. In Deuteronomy it is called the "first rain;" and Joel says, "Be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he hath given you the former rain moderately." The Winter rain usually falls heavily during November, December, and early in
