Cut straw, with most serious and unchanging expression
of countenance, only the large soft eyes were pleasant to look at. In
half-an-hour we were at _Aita_. This country is famous for the
quality of its tobacco, a plant that is most esteemed when grown
among the ruined parts of villages, because the nitre contained in
the old cement of houses not only serves to quicken the vegetation,
but imparts to the article that sparkling effect which is admired
when lighted in the pipe. Vines
are also extensively
cultivated,
and the
people take pleasure in training them aloft upon the high trees, as
oak, terebinth,
poplar, etc., and allowing them to droop down in the graceful
festoons of nature, which also gives an agreeable variety of green
colour among the timber trees. We were entering the gay woodland and
reaching the top of a hill, when the sun rose at our left hand, and
the glory
of that moment surpassed all common power of description. Crowds of
linnets and finches
burst suddenly into song; the crested larks "that tira-lira chant,"
{265} rose into the merry blue sky, with the sunlight gleaming on
their plump and speckled breasts; the wood-pigeons, too, were not
silent; but all, in harmonious
concert, did their best to praise the blessed Creator, who delights
in the happiness of His creatures. Forwards we marched with light
spirits, through dense woods, varied by the occasional clearings,
which are called
"the rides" in
old English forests, and sometimes we drew near to snug villages, or
got glimpses of such, by the names of
_Teereh_, _Hhaneen_, and _'Ain Nebel_; the latter a
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