" 23

10. JEBEL EL HALAL (taken from Ard el Murrah) " 26

11. WADI ABOU-SBEH " 28

12. EL HARISH " 30

13. THE BAZAAR OF EL HARISH " 40

14. EL HARISH (View on the Northern Side) " 42

15. KOUBBA OF NABI GASSER " 44

16. EL HARROUBA " 48

17. MELLEHA OF SHEIK EL ZVOYED " 50

18. OUR CAMP IN SHEIK EL ZVOYED " 52

19. SAGER EL EMIR " 54

20. RAFAH COLUMNS " 55

21. KALA OF KHANYUNIS " 58

22. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF GAZA " 66

23. ENTRANCE TO BAZAAR, GAZA " 68

[Footnote 2: All the illustrations were drawn by the author from nature,
reproduced on wood by Frederick Havranek, and engraved by F. Stolarz and
J. Jass of Prague.]

THE CARAVAN ROUTE

BETWEEN

EGYPT AND SYRIA.

I.

EL KANTARA.

One of the Suez Canal Company's tugs soon took us down the canal from
Ismailia to El Kantara (the bridge), where we were to meet our caravan.
Just as we were landing we observed the first few horses of the latter
crossing by the ferry which plies between the two sides of the canal.
The boat had to go over three times to get all our animals and luggage,
and we found it no easy work on the other side to strap up all our
things ready for the journey. Matters seldom go altogether smoothly on
the first day of a caravan expedition. At length a start was made, the
mules laden with our tents and luggage going on in front, and ourselves
bringing up the rear. The little hotel of El Kantara, with the few
patches of vegetation surrounding it, was the last sight we had of
civilised life. Following the telegraph posts, which mark the route from
Egypt to Syria, we then entered the rolling desert, and soon began to
enjoy that feeling of freedom which a boundless plain always inspires.
Only life on the sea, with all its wonderful charms, is to be compared
to a journey through the desert. In the midst of its vast and solitary
expanse the traveller feels himself overwhelmed, and his imagination
conjures up strange forms on the far horizon. The desert is to the Arab
what the sea is to the sailor; for both, their proper ele