The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-11-07
In The Muddy Jordan.

Bathing in the muddy Jordan is
merely nominal cnjDvment. Bathing
In the Dead sea is dangerous 10 the
eyes and mouth; il Won have any sores
or cuts on your body. exceedingly un-
pleasant But bathing in Calico bv
moonlight l am prepared TO vote sue
cess.
The convent where we stopped. at
Iibcrias, abuts upon the lake near one
Of the beaches most frequented by
modern Rebckahs. On both of the
nights which we passed on the lake
shore we took occasion 10 prove this.
Only one thing marred the perfect en-
joyment. and that was the nature OF
the beach, which was pebbly instcaI of
sandy. 1t was evidently u rare treat
for the Rebckahs 10 witness our ablu-
tions. as they increased rapidly in
number when it became noiscd about
town that real white men" were ia
the water, and they tarried obviously
longer than WAS necessary TO fill their
jars. They would come close TO us.
remark "Warhabar" (thc universal
Arabic salutation. signifying swell
comc'), and then litter rs we answered
back courteously, "Wahabar teen"
(''Welcomc to you, also'O. AS have
intimated, we only held tho boards
there for two nights; but / am conf
dent that our audiences would have
comprehended all the people in the re-
gion round about IL we had remained o
week.
The second night an incident occur
red which serves admirably to illustrate
Arab (not Bedouin) character. A man
threw q stone ut us from the beach af-
ter our audience of maidens had re-
luctantly retired.
Don't mind it." said Mr.. Floyd;
she's trying to pick up fuss with us
after characteristic fashion. Let him
20 to the end of his rope"
Pretty soon another stone followed,
and then another, and another. the last
in rather dangerous promixity to us.
At this Mr.. Floyd said the time was
ripe, and, going up out of tho water.
stood on tho beach falling the missile
thrower and the crowd Of allies. which
had by this time gathered about the
latter. Advanced brusquely, he then
demanded in Arabic:
'Impudent brute, who are you, I'd
like TO knowp"
He's a GREAT sheik," chorused
the crowd, land you don't want to
touch him. or we'll make you sorry"
VERY WE'LL" returned Mr.. Floyd;
'T'm ready to fight the whole crowd
of you. though naked and unarmed.
Many a time I've annihilated q dozen
men at once. all stronger than any of
you. and I'm just itching to make
mince-meat out Of you babies. Look!"
and with stick he rapidly drew cir
Gle around the spot where he stood.
"The first man who crosses that line
I'll grind to powderr'
A moments silence followed. and
then the leader skunk of. followed by
his brave cohorts. One or two re-
mained behind to try and patch up
truce by pretending that the .'g-r-e-a-t
shiek" was only madman. but Mr..
Floyd was too familiar with Arab tricks
to swallow that. aud told them he'd
rather they d throw stones than to try
to make him out fool by passing oil
such fimsy explanation upon him.
OF course it was all done by means OF
bluff. and we had hearty laugh after
ward to think how ridiculously absurd
II was for one naked man 10 face o
semi-armed crowd in this way. Mr..
Floyd's last words were: "Great heav-
ems? Why. your sultan wouldn't dare
TO treat mo in this wayr-Pdiestt1e
Cor. NeW Orleans 7imes-Depocrat.