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190 now that they were at pasture on the Carmel range. They were very dark, and wore long, white, cotton shirts with wide sleeves, and loose, heavy, camel's-hair cloaks. They seemed to be rather taken by surprise by the looking-glass, in which they could see themselves at full length. The one who seemed to be the chief of the party invited me to visit him, with the Consul, at his tents, at an hour's distance from Haifa. In answer to my questions, he told me that there were several women at the encampment, and that they were busy making stores of cooking butter. The cream is shaken in goats' skins, and afterward boiled. When the milk and whey are completely extracted, the butter will keep good for a very long time. At this season the markets are always well supplied by the peasantry and the Bedouins together, and during the Spring housekeepers refill their butter-jars with a store for the Summer and Autumn. One of these Bedouins carried a lance, about twelve feet long. At the top of it there were two round tufts of black ostrich feathers, about one foot apart. The upper tuft was fringed with little white feathers. Between the tufts, strips of scarlet cloth were twisted. The lance was so heavy that I could not lift it. It was of wood, with a metal barb. All the men wore large red and yellow silk striped kefias—that is, fringed shawls on their heads, fastened round the crown with a thick rope, and put on like hoods. They all had high, pointed, red-leather boots, which, however, they took off at the door. One man displayed a heavy silver ring on his finger. A name was roughly engraved on it. The wearer said, "Salute the Consul; may Allah keep all sorrow far from him!" Then he and his followers went away.

I had just dismissed the bearer of the bowl of cream with a backshîsh, when two little girls of the Sekhali family came to me, saying, "O Miriam, peace be upon you! We have thought you must be sad and lonely, now that the Consul is away from Hâifa. May he return to you soon, and in safety!" I invited my friendly little