[234]Abbé Poiret, vol. i. p. 182, 191.
[235]Peyssonnel, ap. Dur. de la Malle, vol. i. p. 247.
[236]Ibid. p. 261.
CHAPTER XXX.
TABARCA.
Early in the morning of April 27 we started for Tabarca. The Oued el-Kebir had fallen several feet during the night, and, though the operation was not an easy one, we managed to get across in safety, by the aid of a number of Khomair on foot and on horseback, who went over several times before us so as to tread down the soft mud in the bed of the river into something like consistency.
After passing this, a short gallop over soft elastic turf brought us to the sea-shore facing the island of Tabarca. We found that the boat we expected had not arrived; the bad weather of the last few days had not only prevented its reaching, but had compelled a number of coral boats to take refuge in the anchorage, so that there was an unusual amount of life and stir about the little place.
We were informed that on the previous evening an Arab had come with a letter for me from the Commandant Supérieur of La Calle, but finding that nothing was known of our intended arrival he had returned with it, and we were of course quite ignorant of its contents. We ascertained afterwards that it was to beg us to proceed by the sea-coast overland so as to avoid as far as possible the interior of the Khomair country, and saying that he would meet us and offer us the hospitality of his camp at the frontier. Had we received this letter, we should doubtless have accepted his invitation, but we should have lost the most pleasant and instructive ride in the whole of our wanderings.
I think I have frequently recorded my impression, that some feature of the landscape was more attractive than any we had seen before, and in fact this was literally the case. Our route was so well planned, commencing in the hot and uninteresting plains of the Sahel, passing through the smiling hills of the Tell, and culminating in the magnificent mountains of Nefsa and the Khomair, that each day’s ride was more picturesque than the one before it.