WADY DJEREIMELE. 
520 
cimens of natural history, and who made some stay at Tor, from 
whence he sent Arabs to hunt for all kinds of animals. 
M. Seetzen traversed the peninsula in several directions, and 
followed a part of the eastern gulf as far northward, I believe, as 
Noweyba. This learned and indefatigable traveller made it a rule 
not to be intimidated by the suspicions and prejudices of the Be 
douins; beyond the Jordan, on the shores of the Dead sea, in the 
desert of Tyh, in this peninsula, as well as in Arabia, he openly fol 
lowed his pursuits, never attempting to hide his papers and pencils 
from the natives, but avowing his object to be that of collecting pre 
cious herbs and curious stones, in the character of a Christian phy 
sician in the Holy Land, and in that of a Moslim physician in the 
Hedjaz. If the knowledge of the natural history of Syria and Arabia 
was the principal object of M. Seetzen’s researches, he was perfectly 
right in the course which he adopted, but if he considered these 
countries only as intermediate steps towards the exploring of 
others, he placed his ultimate success in the utmost peril ; and 
though he may have succeeded in elucidating the history of the 
brute creation, he had little chance of obtaining much information 
on the human character, which can only be done by gaining the 
confidence of the inhabitants, and by accommodating our notions, 
views, and manners, to their own. When M. Seetzen visited these 
mountains, the Towaras were not yet reduced to subjection by 
Mohammed Ali ; he was obliged, on several occasions, to pay large 
sums for his passage through their country, and the Mezeine would 
probably have executed a plot which they had laid to kill him, had 
not his guides been informed of it, and prevented him from passing 
through their territory. 
Thad much difficulty in soothing Ayd; he remained quiet dur 
ing the rest of the journey, but after our return to the convent, the