On the 16th of April I rode out to a point north-east of Gaza, accompanied by Corporal Brophy and by a native soldier from the town. The Teiâha Arabs were at war with the ’Azâzimeh, who had called in the Terabîn to assist them, and battles were being fought within a few miles of the city, quite unnoticed by the Turkish Governor. We were riding across a heavy ploughed field, when I heard cries of “There they are!” and looking back I saw the main road occupied by a band of about twenty horsemen, half hidden by a swell of the ground. They were all well mounted, and armed with swords, guns, and pistols, and with great lances of cane with long iron heads and tufts of ostrich feathers. As I looked six spearmen started out and spurred full speed at our Bashi-Bazouk, who was some two hundred yards behind us. They came down like a whirlwind, shaking their lances horizontally, and kicking up a great cloud of dust. It was an awkward moment, for we were out-numbered, and flight or resistance would have been equally vain. I resolved to face it out, and turning back we also galloped up towards the six champions, who drew up round our soldier, and dug their spear-butts into the ground, then suddenly wheeled round and cantered back to the main body, which, to my great relief, filed slowly away eastwards. It appeared that they had mistaken us for Terabîn Arabs, but, finding that we were English, and protected by the Gaza government, they had been afraid to interfere with us. This little adventure gave us a good idea of the tactics of the Bedawîn in warfare. The military advantage of superior numbers is thoroughly recognised by these wary and pretentious warriors. From Gaza we also visited Deir el Belah, the Crusading Darum fortified by King Amalrich in 1170 A.D.--a village with remains of a Greek Church of St. George and numerous date-palms, whence its present name “Convent of Dates” is derived. From Darum we also went to Umm el Jerrâr, the site identified by Vandevelde with the Gerar of Abraham and Isaac. A large Tell exists here, but no ancient wells like those of Beersheba, and I was thus led to the conclusion that Abraham’s wells, which the Philistines filled up, and which Isaac is said to have dug again, were probably similar to the pits which the Arabs still dig near this site, to reach the water flowing beneath the surface in the shingly bed of the great trench which runs through the flat alluvial plain of Gerar. News of a serious fight near Beersheba, in which 700 Arabs were killed and wounded, determined us to set our faces northwards, leaving the district north-west of Beersheba to be finished during the autumn of 1877. On the last day of April we left our Gaza camp, and marched back to Mejdel, and thence, on the following day, to Yebnah, the ancient Jamnia, famous as the seat of the Sanhedrim after the fall of Bether.