Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/212

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RETURN TO HÂIFA.
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shaped very like a primrose, with pointed, succulent leaves growing in pairs up the stem. Pressure always changed the color of the flower from pink to blue. This plant would be a welcome addition to our gardens in England, where I have never yet found it. I made a drawing of the dome over the pleasant fountain, and when the sleepers woke they said, "Mashallah, the English girl takes no rest—God gives her strength." We took leave of the Agha and his people and our Shefa 'Amer friends, and rode with Saleh and our servants toward Hâifa, carrying one gazelle and two hares. We saw many groups of horses and camels grazing under the care of the Agha's men on the uncultivated portions of the plain. Tortoises met us and paused as if alarmed. They looked about them for an instant and then drew their heads under their horny shields. Hundreds of small birds fluttered out of the tall grass, disturbed by our approach, and flocks of wild ducks and geese now and then flew across the plain toward the marshes, and sea-gulls flapped their wings above us. We crossed the drifted sand hills, and cantered along the smooth sea-shore toward the Kishon. Men were standing on its banks, throwing large floating nets, assisted by boys in a little boat in the middle of the river. The fishes of the Kishon are rather small, but abundant, and delicate in flavor.

There were seven ships off Hâifa—Greek, French, and Turkish. The sun was low when we went, one after the other, over the sand-bar. We hastened onward by the water's edge, letting our horses' feet just touch the fringe of the sparkling waves, startling hundreds of small white and sand-colored crabs. Their black eyes are fixed on the points of movable pinnacles, which are thrust out from the round eye-sockets, and stand upright. They scampered hither and thither nimbly, to get out of our way. Their rapidly-moving forms were repeated on the shining wet sands, till shape and shadow were lost under the coming wave. I have often caught and examined these curious little crabs. They are always very light in color—white