There can be
no doubt that a few years' experience and attention will enable the
authorities to improve upon the present arrangement, and that not only
will the annual supply be assured, but the foreign demand will be
extended.
We passed the valley beyond the aqueduct and, ascending the steep
incline upon the opposite side, followed the rutty native track parallel
with the water-course; we halted for the first night opposite the
village of Cheflik Pacha. This is an unhealthy place, as it lies in a
valley where a mill is turned by a stream from the aqueduct and the
surplus water forms a marsh after irrigating in a careless manner some
fields and gardens. Lemon and orange-trees of the largest size were
crowded with fruit, and exhibited in the midst of a treeless and
desolate country the great necessity, WATER, and the productive powers
of the soil when regularly supplied.
I was careful not to descend into the irrigated bottom, therefore we had
halted on the highest point, a quarter of a mile distant. It is
impossible to be too careful in the selection of a camping-ground; the
effect of fever-germs may be the result of one night's bivouac in an
unhealthy locality; and a new country is frequently stamped as
pestilential from the utter carelessness of the traveller or officer in
command of troops.
As a general rule the immediate neighbourhood of water should be
avoided.
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