204 Life and Letters of Francis Galton
Mediterranean through a gorge. At Tripoli I did a foolish thing, viz. slept in the low marshy land and caught an ague that plagued me until I wholly lost it in 1851 in Africa. Riding along the shore towards Beyrout I met Boulton-a joyous meeting. We crossed and parted and I never saw him again. He went eastwards and finally being an onlooker at the siege of Mooltan, with General Whish, took up a post of observation through a loophole in a deserted turret and when there a matchlock ball passed through his eye and brain. He was singularly gifted and amiable ; an epicurean in disposition, that is to say a philosophical pleasure seeker and of sterling merit. At Beyrout I found my groom and horses had got into scrapes and I sold the latter. Being unwell with ague I felt unable then to ride to Jerusalem, so I took a place in a common collier sailing to Jaffa, making myself supremely comfortable with rugs &c., on a cleaned corner of the deck. At Jaffa I found baggage camels and in defiance of usage rode one into Jerusalem. The time when the Akka episode occurred and my stay in Mount Carmel has quite escaped me. It was there that Mr -'s baby died and I performed some share in christening it just before its death. Also a Jesuit priest (as I believe) got hold of me and took great pains to convert me. Also I bad a scramble at night to find, as I ultimately did, a wretched piece of humanity, a converted Jew, who had wandered about the hill and contrived to get himself into grief and lost himself and was become rather desperate when found. At Jerusalem I planned an expedition, common enough now but then quite new, with one fatal exception of a year or two previous namely, to follow the valley of the Jordan all the way from Tiberias to the Dead Sea. Until Costagan's time (brother of Mrs Bradshaw of Leamington) from that of the Crusader, I believe there was no record of a Christian having attempted the journey owing to the wars of the tribes and the impossibility of getting safely from each to its neighbour. But a time of peace had set in and I availed myself of it. The plan was to get water skins at Jerusalem, take them on horseback to Tiberias inflate and make a raft of them and on it to float down the Jordan. Starting from Jerusalem escorted with spearmen and all mounted, including my native cook and I think one or two others, we ultimately slept at overlooking the valley of the Jordan, half way along its course (there was a row at night and some of the horses tails were cut off in derision by the attackers) thence I descended to the valley and rode up to Tiberias. After a few days stay I started back, rigged out my raft just below the bridge where the Jordan issues from the lake, to the great amusement of the escort, who had orders to ride by the side, and off I floated, the stream was far too narrow and I got capsized twice. Then came a more serious misadventure for the current swirled in a narrow channel under overhanging boughs nearly touching the water and I was knocked off and got into difficulties. I soon saw that the raft project was not feasible at that season and took again to my horse. It was really a picturesque group. I had .to ride in Arab head dress with a fillet and my men with their clump of long spears with ostrich feathers at the top looked very well indeed. After a while we came to a great Arab encampment, that of the Emir Ruabah whose sister, a relative of some kind of my own escorter, Sheikh Nair Abu Nasheer (of Jericho or thereabouts) had married. He was civil but wary and punctilious, and wherever I went I was watched. He had a quantity of old chain armour, beautiful Saracenic coats of mail. It was a somewhat uneasy visit to me and I was glad to be off. We finally got to Jericho and thence to Jerusalem, I making various plans with my Sheikh
