a peculiar rainbow, if a bow may be called so when no rain
appeared; a perpendicular stripe, brilliant enough, and lasting
at least twenty minutes. The cloud behind it had no skirt, no
droop in fact, no sign of dissolution; and what made it the
stranger was that this "bull's-eye" lay north of, and not
opposite to, but quite near, the rising sun. We shall note
another of these exceptional rainbows at El-Bada.[EN#8]

After marching some seven miles to the south with westing, we saw
inform heaps to the left: half an hour afterwards,
boulder-encircled pits of a brighter green on the right, the
Themail el-Ma ("artificial cisterns") of the Arabs, announced
that we were reaching Shaghab. The caravan punished us by wasting
five hours on the way, in order to force a halt; and by camping
at the wrong place, when I objected to the delay. It brought with
it, however, a fine young Beden (ibex), killed by one of the
Bedawin; and we determined to stuff, to bury, and to bake it,
Arab fashion, under the superintendence of the Bash-Buzuk Husayn.
Unfortunately it was served to us on the next day cold, whereas
it should have been eaten at once, piping hot. The meat was dark,
with a beefy rather than a gamey flavour, palatable, but by no
means remarkable. There were loud regrets that a cuisse de
chevreuil had not been marinee; in fact, an infect odour of the
Quartier Latin everywhere followed us; and when a guide told us
the pattern lie, that we should not reach Umm 'Amir before the
fourth day, the poor "Frogs" croaked, and croaked audibly as
dismally. Their last bottle of ordinaire was finished; Gabr, the
Kazi, had come into camp, bearing a long official Arabic document
from Lieutenant Yusuf, but not a single Journal de Geneve; there
was no news of a steamer being sent with rations and forage from