th. The Bedawi's mare was returned; and Jane Digby had the pleasure
of re-union with her dear Mrs. Burton, whom she kissed effusively.

Both Burton and his wife mingled freely with the people of Damascus,
and Burton, who was constantly storing up knowledge against his great
edition of The Arabian Nights, often frequented the Arabic library.
[226] Their favourite walk was to the top of an adjacent eminence,
whence they could look down on Damascus, which lay in the light of
the setting sun, "like a pearl." Then there were excursions to distant
villages of traditionary interest, including Jobar, where Elijah is
reputed to have hidden, and to have anointed Hazael. [227] "The Bird,"
indeed, as ever, was continually on the wing, nor was Mrs. Burton less
active. She visited, for example, several of the harems in the city,
including that of Abd el Kadir. "He had five wives," she says, "one of
them was very pretty. I asked them how they could bear to live together
and pet each other's children. I told them that in England, if a woman
thought her husband had another wife or mistress, she would be ready
to kill her. They all laughed heartily at me, and seemed to think it a
great joke." [228] She also took part in various social and religious
functions, and was present more than once at a circumcision--at which,
she tells us, the victim, as Westerns must regard him, was always seated
on richest tapestry resembling a bride throne, while his cries were
drowned by the crash of cymbals. Burton's note-books, indeed, owed no
mean debt to her zealous co-operation.

60. Palmer and Drake. 11th July 1870.

The Burtons spent their summer in a diminutive Christian village called
B'ludan, on the Anti-Lebanon, at the head of the Vale of Zebedani,
Burton having chosen it as his sanitarium. A beautiful stream with
waterfalls bubbled through their gardens, which commanded magnificent
views of the Lebanon country. As at Santos, Mrs. Burton continued her
role of Lady Bountiful, and she spent many hours making up powders and
pills. Although in reality nobody was one jot the better or the worse
for taking them, the rumour circulated that they were invariably fatal.
Consequently her reputation as a doctor spread far and wide. One evening
a peasant woman who was dying sent a piteous request for aid, and
Mrs. Burton, who hurried to the spot, satisfied the poor soul by the
administration of some useless but harmless dose. Next morning the
woman's