case, which is insensible to the sharpness of stones and thorns, and to the roughness of the stubble-field.
In the valley below we saw broad fields of green millet and broom-corn—a strong grass about five or six feet in hight, of which brooms are made—but all the wheat and barley had been cut, and mules and oxen were busy on the thrashing-floors.
On the eastern side of this valley the hills were uncultivated, and on the neglected terraces wild fig-trees, ever-green oaks, and thorns grew. In the breaks between these hills we had occasional glimpses of the Dead Sea, calm, and blue, and bright in the sunshine, and the long range of Moab beyond; its channeled and furrowed hills bounded the view, and met the sky in an almost level line.
The sun was very powerful, for it was the fifth hour, between ten and eleven o'clock. We protected our heads from sunstroke by winding round our hats long strips of muslin, after the fashion of turbans, which are the most suitable head-dresses for hot countries.
We left all traces of cultivated land presently, and came to hills which were clothed with thorns and thistles, wild thyme and sage, except where the scanty soil had been washed away from the grayish-blue slab-like rocks.
As we descended into the valley of Urtâs by a pathless steep, we paused to watch a long line of camels, and a considerable body of Bedouins, who were entering it from a narrow wady just opposite. They were preceded by three sturdy-looking men mounted on horses, and carrying spears about twelve feet long, garnished with tufts of ostrich feathers.
They were evidently on their way to seek some favorable site for a Summer encampment, for they were accompanied by a large number of women and children, who rode in clumsy cradles or panniers on the foremost camels, while the rest were laden with black hair tents and bundles of tent-poles, cooking utensils, water jars, mats, and sacks of provisions. Goats, sheep, and a few donkeys brought
