same time for shelter and food. We were,
moreover, strong, vigorous, and hearty, and
it would have gone hardly with the Sheik
if he had proclaimed us tentless, or if there
had been any trifling on a subject so
serious as our meals. Thus it was, that when
he asked us furtively what we thought of
Alee Sulyman, we tacitly declined to commit
ourselves, and again vowed our willingness
to be ruled by our Sheik in all things.
This maintained our right of future criticism
or fault-finding intact; no small matter
when we were running counter to the advice
of travellers experienced in the country,
who insisted that the only safe and wise
course was to bring a dragoman and tents
from Egypt. The Sheik had thought otherwise,
and this morning at Jaffa would decide
whether he was right or wrong. As it was,
we had landed in a part of the country
which we knew to be destitute of roads and
carriages, and now had a long and rough
journey, or series of journeys, before us, for
which we were unprovided save by a small
valise apiece.

The Sheik was absent for an hour after
we reached the Jaffa hotel, at the end of
which he returned, in high spirits, with a
contract paper already drawn up, with
Alee Sulyman in attendance, and with a
full and hilarious account of his interview
with the English vice-consul, and the
kindly interest that gentleman had taken
in our welfare. A revulsion of feeling
followed, for to speak plainly we had
abused our friend finely in his absence,
asking, in rebellious mood, why we had
been brought out of Egypt to starve,
and why matters were not arranged
comfortably at first by our paying a Cairo
dragoman the lump sum he demanded for
the trip. For the benefit of future travellers
in Palestine, who will assuredly have
the most contradictory advice given them
by dwellers in adjacent lands, I have
pleasure in recording that the Sheik was
right throughout, and that we had neither
difficulty in meeting with a dragoman on
landing, or in concluding such an arrangement
with him as resulted in one of the
best-managed and most successful holiday
tours any of us had known.

For thirty shillings per day per head, or
six pounds per day for our party of four,
our new friend Alee undertook to convey
us where we would; to provide horses,
mules, tents, bedding, and furniture; to
take us by any route we preferred to any
spot we fixed upon; to supply us with
food, guides, and, where necessary, armed
guards; and to pay all backsheesh to
servants as well as to priests and other
custodians at the places we visited. This
agreement bound us to no time, and was
terminable at pleasure. Each contracting
party had to abide by it, however,
for as long as they kept together, so that
whether we were at hotels in the holy city,
at convents to which we had sent on our
cook and servants beforehand, or in tents
in the wilderness, Alee relieved us of all
responsibility, and we knew precisely how
much our travelling and living expenses
came to. Wine and beer were the only
extras; and though as a matter of fact we
made presents amounting to a few pounds
to Alee himself and to some of his staff,
this was purely voluntary, and was done to
testify, in Oriental fashion, our satisfaction
at the treatment we received. This is
what advancing civilisation, steamboats,
and cheap travelling, have brought a
pilgrimage in the Holy Land to, and, always
supposing your dragoman is as good and
faithful as ours, a pleasanter consummation
it would be difficult to conceive.

It was by the Pools of King Solomon,
and when we were on our road to Bethlehem
by the way of Rachel's tomb, that we first
really appreciated Alee. Up to this time
we had so arranged our marches as to
reach a town or convent at night, and
beyond a general feeling that our horses were
sure-footed, and that our dragoman was
unobtrusively obliging, we had formed no
very distinct opinion concerning him.
"Wait until we see what he does for us
when we camp out," was the answer whenever
our Sheik showed a disposition to praise
Alee, or to plume himself on his own good
management; and this first night in the
wilderness was regarded as the crucial test
of the enterprise. Never shall I forget the
delight, nay, the emotion with which, after
a hard ride in a fierce sun, Alee led the way
down a rocky defile on the mountain side,
and to the back of a ruined khan, which,
with its thick walls and embattlements,
looked as if it might again be used as a
fortified retreat for the traveller on his
way between Jerusalem and Hebron, who
seeks protection from the wild Bedouins.
Here, on a grassy knoll, which looked all the
brighter for the rugged and perpendicular
masses of grey stone which closed in the
prospect on all sides of it, were the tents.
Close by them was Alee, who had already
dismounted, and was anxiously waiting to
do the honours. Beyond him were the
Arab servants and baggage boys, and