Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/194

 as something a little beyond our powers. It is written "M'raier," and the uninitiated call it simply "Mariar," but in the deep throats of our traveling companions it becomes a sort of choking gasp, overtaken by a death rattle and smothered in a sand storm. To give you an idea of how it sounds on Arab lips, I can only say that if, as scientists assert, sounds can be photographed, the portrait of the name of this sand-surrounded hamlet would look not unlike the accompanying picture of the sole female inhabitant of the place.

"BORN TO BLUSH UNSEEN"

"DELMONICO'S" IN THE DESERT

"At last we find her!" proclaims my friend. "It is she who, of all womankind, was born to 'blush unseen and waste her sweetness on the desert air!'" And again after a