CHAP XXII—TRAVELLING IN A CARAVAN.—SIGHTS ON THE WAY.
Turning our Faces Eastward—The Land of the Sun—Palmyra, Bagdad, and Babylon—The Desert in Summer and Winter—A Dangerous Road—The Robbers of the Wilderness—Ruins in the Desert—A City of Wonders—The Haunts of the Bedouins—Engaging an Escort—The Start for Palmyra—On a Dromedary’s Back—The Environs of Damascus—A Bed on the Sand—“Every One to his Taste”—A Knavish Governor—Winking at Robbery—In the Desert—On the great Caravan Track—Caravansaries, What Are they?—The High Road to India—An Arab Fountain,........[...300]
CHAP XXIII—TENT-LIFE AMONG THE BEDOUINS—THE WARRIORS OF THE DESERT.
Among the Bedouins—A Genuine Son of the Desert—High-Toned Robbers—A Sample of Bedouin Hospitality—Etiquette in an Arab Encampment—A Case of Insult—Tent-Life and its Freedom—A Nation of Cavalry-Warriors—Bedouin Dress, Manners and Customs—Their Horses and Weapons—A Singular Custom—A Caricature Steed and his Rider—Arab Scare-Crows—On the Road to Palmyra—A Mountain of Ruins—The Grand Colonnade—The Temple of the Sun—A Building Half a Mile in Circumference—An Earthquake, and What It Did—The City of the Caliphs,........[...307]