We had a long and weary search before we could
obtain for our sick comrade even a room, destitute of every
appearance of comfort. Poor Herr Sattler, more dead than alive, was
compelled, after a ride of thirteen hours, to take up his lodging on
the hard ground. The room was perfectly bare, the windows were
broken, and the door would not lock. We were fain to search for a
few boards, with which we closed up the windows, that the sick man
might at least be sheltered from the current of air.

I then prepared him a dish of rice with vinegar; this was the only
refreshment we were able to procure.

The rest of us lay down in the yard; but the anxiety we felt
concerning our sick friend prevented us from sleeping much. He
exhibited every symptom of the plague; in this short time his
countenance was quite changed; violent headache and exhaustion
prevented him from moving, and the burning heat added the pangs of
thirst to his other ills. As we had been travelling for the last
day and a half through regions where the pestilence prevailed, it
appeared but too probable that Herr Sattler had been attacked by it.
Luckily the patient himself had not any idea of the kind, and we
took especial care that he should not read our anxiety in our
countenances.

July 9th.

Heaven be praised, Herr Sattler was better to-day, though too weak
to continue his journey. As we had thus some time on our hands, the
French gentleman and I resolved to embark in a boat to witness the
operation of fishing for sponges, by which a number of the poorer
inhabitants of the Syrian coast gain their livelihood.

A fisherman rowed us about half a mile out to sea, till he came to a
place where he hoped to find something. Here he immersed a plummet
in the sea to sound its depth, and on finding that some thing was to
be gained here, he dived downwards armed with a knife to cut the
sponge he expected to find from the rocks; and after remaining below
the surface for two or three minutes, reappeared with his booty,
When first loosened from the rocks, these sponges are usually full
of shells and small stones, which give them a very strong and
disagreeable smell. They require to be thoroughly cleansed from
dirt and well washed with sea-water before being put into fresh.

After our little water-party, we sallied forth to see the town,
which is very prettily situated among plantations of mulberry-trees
in the vicinity of the sea-coast. The women here are not on