Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/271

Rh signs of human habitation, in frequent clusters of the black tents of the Arabs. We were now descending from the hills to the plains. Far behind us was the range which bounded the Desert of the Wandering, while before us opened the great Plain of Philistia. My companion was full of the history, as well as of the flora, of this region. "We are now entering," he said, "one of the great historical plains of the world — one which has been trodden by all the conquerors from Alexander to Napoleon. And long before Alexander, Cambyses the Persian crossed this plain to invade Egypt; and marching the other way, came the armies of Pharaoh Necho, to invade Syria. And so back and forth has the wave of conquest flowed and reflowed between Asia and Africa — between the empires on the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates, and that on the banks of the Nile."

So discoursed my friend while I listened with eager interest, so absorbed that I did not notice that we had got a mile ahead of the greater part of our camels, when we heard behind us a voice shouting and a man running toward us. Fearing that some accident had happened to our baggage train, we waited till he should come up. When he appeared, I perceived that he was a huge negro, with teeth that were like tusks, and who had altogether a repulsive aspect, like one of those brutish-looking creatures that may now and then be seen guarding the harems of Cairo and Constantinople. As soon as he came up, he signified by loud voice and vehement gestures that we could not proceed any further; that we were now in the territory of another tribe, and could not pass without paying tribute; and not to be too modest about it, said that we must hand over a hundred pounds! As soon as the dragoman and our two cameleers learned his errand, they seized him, and I thought would choke him. But the strength was not to