“Dawdy! Dawdy! dit a kei, Rockerony fake your bosh.”
At one time a woman brought an exceedingly fat child for us to look at, and she wanted Esmeralda to suckle it, which was of course hastily declined. We began to ask ourselves, if this was forest seclusion. Still, our visitors were kind, good-humoured people, and some drank our brandy, and some smoked our English tobacco. Had they not partaken of our salt? We, as Arabs of tent-life, gave them our friendly welcome. After our tea, at five o’clock we had a pleasant stroll. Once more we were with Nature. There we lingered, till the scenes round us, in their varied beauty, seemed graven deep in our thoughts. How graphic are the lines of Moore:--
“The turf shall be my fragrant shrine, My temple, Lord! that arch of thine My censer’s breath the mountain airs, And silent thoughts my only prayers.
“My choir shall be the moonlight waves, then murm’ring homeward to their caves, Or when the stillness of the sea, Even more of music breathes of thee.”
How appropriate, were the words of the great poet to our feelings. Returning between eight and nine o’clock, we found Esmeralda standing by the tents. We went in and sat down. Another party of visitors approached. Now and then they halted, as they looked towards our tents, and would then refer to a paper. They stood occasionally for a few moments in earnest discussion. We were much puzzled to make out what they were doing, as we sat in our tent looking at them. One of the party, a tall, fine-looking man in plaid trousers, large beard, and cap, advanced. As we bowed, he handed us a Norwegian newspaper, and pointed to a paragraph, which we soon found related to ourselves. They all took some brandy; and when we offered to buy the newspaper, they most kindly presented it to us. Then Zacharia took them to see the donkeys. When they returned, we made them understand, that they were at the camp of the Englishman, referred to in the paragraph. They inspected the tents and pinthorns. They felt the blanket coverings, and also the waterproof Siphonian cover. Examined our camp kettle; and we explained to them the mysteries of our Russian lamp. There was much discussion among them about our tents. They stood by them for a quarter of an hour. Perhaps the description in the paragraph was not quite understood. The paragraph ran thus, and underneath we give an English translation:--