2. He should never attempt to penetrate without Arab guides.
3. He should have an abundant supply of candles, matches, and blue lights, or magnesium wire.
4. He should have canvas shoes with hempen soles to prevent himself from slipping, and he should only wear such clothes as he is content to abandon afterwards.
We made up our mind to proceed to Constantine on horseback, by an unfrequented path; so we sent back our tents from Djebel Thaya, and determined to content ourselves with such accommodation as we could find on the way.
We started on the morning of April 18. The road passed through a great variety of scenery—cork forests, fertile valleys, wide stretches of pasture land, everywhere well watered. Some of the streams are as beautiful as if they had been transported from a Highland glen.
At about 10 miles from Thaya, we passed an Arab market, Souk el-Arbäa, where a fair is held every Wednesday. There are a few buildings, generally unoccupied save on market day.
At Tarafana, some distance further on, is a remarkable isolated mass of rock, fifty or sixty feet high, on the right of the road; on the west side of it are the remains of a building of large cut stones, either of Roman construction or more probably erected by the Byzantines out of older material. Its position in the centre of this fertile valley clearly enough indicates that it must have been a military post. On a rising ground to the left of the road, opposite to it, are a few large dolmens, which, unfortunately, our time would not allow us to excavate.
Shortly after this we entered a long plain and saw, far off in the distance, the village of El-Aria, which we hoped to reach that night. We felt very tired, not having yet got habituated to marching, and longed to know exactly how many weary miles we still had to travel. Two human beings alone appeared in sight, and they were mere specks in the distance, and might be Arabs, who had no idea whatever of distance or time; as they approached they assumed the very pleasant forms of a well-to-do farmer, out for an evening ride accompanied by his young daughter. He counselled us not to attempt to go any farther that night, but to accompany him to his farm of El-Khanaba, which was close at hand. We needed no second invitation, and I am sure that none of us will ever think of M. and Mme. A——— and their fair young daughter without the most pleasant reminiscence of the night we spent under their hospitable roof.
He took us all over his farm and showed us some interesting ruins, which proved that it must have been an important agricultural establishment in the time of the Romans. The foundations of a handsome villa still exist, mill-stones and immense amphoræ have been dug up, and a perfect mine of cut stones, which have been utilised in constructing the modern farm buildings.
Next morning, April 19, our host and his daughter insisted on accompanying us some distance on our way; poor girl, it was such a boon to her to meet a party of English ladies, that she could not contemplate bidding them adieu without a little moistening of the eyes. She had no neighbour within many miles, and, but for the fact of her being a good horsewoman, must have felt it very lonely, living so far from other Europeans.