and in that time had raced his camel with our horses; then he
suddenly turned from us toward the near mountains of Gilead. We
met a number of caravans in the earlier part of the afternoon, and
I noted that every man that I saw carried a gun, or some sort of
sword, or large knife. They were ready for defense, if occasion
should arise.

About two o'clock we passed a "memorial heap," or cairn. Some
tragedy occurred there, and the custom of the region is that the
passer-by places reverently on the pile of rocks already formed an
additional stone. Elsewhere I had seen this done when it seemed to
me the actor was under the spell of a superstitious fear.

About the middle of the afternoon a soldier, full armed, dashes up
to us in a mad gallop, hands a message to my dragoman, and then as
rapidly rides back again. I am a little alarmed at this until I
learn that he has entrusted a writing to us to be delivered in
Jerusalem. A little later I see another soldier leave the group in
which he is riding and gallop ahead across the open way to the
brow of a hill. There he dismounts, lays down his gun, takes the
robe, or blanket, on which he rode, spreads it upon the ground,
faces toward Mecca, and prostrates himself in prayer. The prayer
over, he dashes down to his party and they are off like the wind.

About four o'clock we passed near a little village, the only place
where I saw a house on that long afternoon ride. It is not safe
for any one to live outside the villages; hence there are no
isolated dwellings in all this region. We did not halt for one
moment, but kept pressing steadily on.