We dismounted and walked down the long and steep pass, the mules being
led behind. The entire face of the perpendicular cliffs was cretaceous
limestone, but the scaly slopes of a hill upon our left, about a mile
and a half distant, formed a loose heap of shale, which had slipped,
either during earthquakes or heavy rains, in great masses to the bottom.
After a long and tedious descent we reached the base of the pass, and
halted in a broad river-bed full of rocks and stones of all sizes, which
had been rounded by the torrent of the rainy season. There was no water
except in small pools that had been scraped in the sand for the benefit
of the travelling animals. Having watered our mules and remounted, we
ascended the steep banks of the stream and continued towards the sea,
feeling a sensible difference in the temperature since we had descended
from the heights.
The country was exceedingly pretty, as it sloped gently downwards for
three or four miles, the surface ornamented with caroub-trees, until we
at length reached the sea-beach and crossed the sandy mouth of the
river's bed. The crops of cereals were perished by drought in the
absence of irrigation; but upon continuing our route parallel with the
beach we observed an immediate improvement, as the water was conducted
by artificial channels to the various fields. This arrangement had been
effected by erecting a temporary dam in the river's bed far among the
mountains, and thus leading the stream into the conduit for many miles.
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