By the above short account it will be seen that the Arabs are no longer the most skilful physicians in the world.  They have, however, one great advantage in their practice, and they are sensible enough to make free use of it.  As the children of almost all the respectable citizens are brought up in the Desert, the camp becomes to them a native village.  In cases of severe wounds or chronic diseases, the patient is ordered off to the Black Tents, where he lives as a Badawi, drinking camels’ milk (a diet for the first three or four days highly cathartic), and doing nothing.  This has been the practice from time immemorial in Arabia, whereas Europe is only beginning to systematise the adhibition of air, exercise, and simple living.  And even now we are obliged to veil it under the garb of charlatanry-to call it a “milk-cure” in Switzerland,

[p.391]a “water-cure” in Silesia, a “grape-cure” in France, a “hunger-cure” in Germany, and other sensible names which act as dust in the public eyes.

Al-Madinah consists of three parts,-a town, a fort, and a suburb little smaller than the body of the place.  The town itself is about one-third larger than Suez, or nearly half the size of Meccah.  It is a walled enclosure forming an irregular oval with four gates.  The Bab al-Shami, or " Syrian Gate,” in the North-West side of the enceinte, leads towards Jabal Ohod, Hamzah’s burial-place, and the mountains.  In the Eastern wall, the Bab al-Jum’ah, or Friday Gate, opens upon the Nijd road and the cemetery, Al-Bakia.  Between the Shami and the Jum’ah gates, towards the North, is the Bab al-Ziyafah (of Hospitality); and Westwards the Bab al-Misri (Egyptian) opens upon the plain called the Barr al-Manakhah.  The Eastern and the Egyptian gates are fine massive buildings, with double towers close together, painted with broad bands of red, yellow, and other colors, not unlike that old entrance of the Cairo citadel which opens upon the Ramayliyah plain.  They may be compared with the gateway towers of the old Norman castles-Arques, for instance.  In their shady and well-watered interiors, soldiers keep guard, camel-men dispute, and numerous idlers congregate, to enjoy the luxuries of coolness and of companionship.  Beyond this gate, in the street leading to the Mosque, is the great bazar.  Outside it lie the Suk al-Khuzayriyah, or greengrocers’ market, and the Suk al-Habbabah, or the grain bazar, with a fair sprinkling of coffee-houses.  These markets are long masses of palm-leaf huts, blackened in the sun and wind, of a mean and squalid appearance, detracting greatly from the appearance of the gates.  Amongst them there is a little domed and whitewashed building, which I was told is a Sabil or public fountain.  In the days of the Prophet the town