My journey was to recommence the next
day, and it was hinted that if I preservered in my intention of
proceeding, the people would have an easy and profitable
opportunity of wreaking their vengeance on me. If ever they formed
any scheme of the kind, they at all events refrained from any
attempt to carry it into effect.
One of the evenings during my stay at Suez was enlivened by a
triple wedding. There was a long and slow procession. Some
carried torches, and others were thumping drums and firing pistols.
The bridegrooms came last, all walking abreast. My only reason for
mentioning the ceremony (which was otherwise uninteresting) is,
that I scarcely ever in all my life saw any phenomena so ridiculous
as the meekness and gravity of those three young men whilst being
"led to the altar."
CHAPTER XXIII--SUEZ TO GAZA
The route over the Desert from Suez to Gaza is not frequented by
merchants, and is seldom passed by a traveller. This part of the
country is less uniformly barren than the tracts of shifting sand
that lie on the El Arish route. The shrubs on which the camel
feeds are more frequent, and in many spots the sand is mingled with
so much of productive soil, as to admit the growth of corn.
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