Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/178

142 but had not yet come into flower; and occasionally we came upon the leafy tuft of that peculiar plant, the mandrake (Mandragora officinalis), supposed to be the same as that mentioned in Genesis xxx, 14, with its purple bell-shaped flowers concealed within the interior of its "primrose-like" leaves.

About noon we reached Khurbet el Baha, an artificial mound, marked on the Ordnance Survey Map, about 120 feet across at the base, and 30 feet high. It is covered by broken pottery and pieces of slag, and commands an extensive prospect over the plains. Here we set up our luncheon tent and rested for a while. Just as we were preparing to remount our horses, an Arab Sheikh, gorgeously arrayed, with two attendants, and spear in hand, rode up towards our tent, and after the usual salutations, we inquired of him to what tribe he belonged. He replied, "I am Sheikh of the Tihyaha. All the lands you see around (waving his hand proudly) we have taken from the Terabîn, who have gone further south to the country of the Azâzimeh." After a little more conversation he bid us farewell and rode away. This Sheikh was certainly the finest representative of an Arab chief I had seen. What he had mentioned referred to a contest which had raged for several years between the Tihyaha and the Terabin tribes about the ownership of a tract of land in which the former were the victors. The Government were obliged ultimately to interfere; and, having sent a body of soldiers with guns into the district, compelled the Sheikhs of the respective parties to come to terms, the Terabîn being obliged to surrender a portion of their territory.

Shortly after starting, a herd of fifteen gazelles crossed our path in open order some distance ahead of us. It was the largest herd I had seen; and it was a beautiful sight to see these graceful animals bounding across the plain; of course, no one was prepared for this, and the gazelles passed unmolested by us. Coming to the foot of a low ridge which our path crossed, and from which we expected to get a sight of the Mediterranean and of Gaza in the foreground, we put our horses into a gallop, which, to do them justice, they were always ready to go in for. On reaching the summit, we had an extensive prospect. Gaza, our future prison, lay at the other side of an extensive and fertile plain, which swept